The proposed law heading to parliament includes legislative authority to reduce existing fiscal burdens on housing construction intended for residential occupation and rental, explained Minister António Leitão Amaro after the meeting.
This measure follows the Government’s approval of the “Construir Portugal – Arrendamento e Simplificação” program in September, which envisaged implementing a 6% VAT rate on the construction of homes for sale up to 648,000 euros or, in the case of rental, for rents up to 2,300 euros, effective until 2029.
At today’s press conference, Leitão Amaro explained that the Government approved the draft law significantly reducing taxes in this sector.
The measures aim to create a stable framework for investors promoting rental housing and a very significant tax relief for homes at moderate prices, with “moderate rents” up to 2,300 euros and homes for sale up to 648,000 euros, he said.
The Minister of the Presidency stated that these thresholds refer to “homes that the middle class can buy and aim to exclude: luxury homes.”
“We did not want to make just another small program to cover a few tens of thousands of homes; we genuinely want a tax relief that covers the vast majority of Portuguese,” he argued, justifying the executive’s initiative.
Leitão Amaro emphasized that “it was not possible for the Portuguese to complain” about expensive housing while the state continued “to make houses more expensive with so many taxes.”
The Council of Ministers also approved another draft law to create a new regime for planning and building, announced Leitão Amaro.
This proposal will bring about a “cut in bureaucracy so that urban operations can be carried out, and construction and rehabilitation can be done in Portugal” more quickly and with lower context costs, he said.
The two draft laws, he added, are “essential tools for building more houses.”
Both drafts will need to be reviewed by parliament, which has a reservation on legislation changes when it involves adjustments in taxation.
