Between March and May the volume of housing sales in Portugal increased, interrupting the downward cycle that started in the fourth quarter of 2021, reveals this Tuesday Confidencial Imobiliário
The purchase of houses increased more than 6% between March and May compared to the previous three months, for a total of about 33,800 fires, reveals this Tuesday the Confidencial Imobiliário (CI). The estimated sales volume reversed the decline that was still being felt between December 2022 and February 2023, when 31,800 homes were sold in the country.
Ricardo Guimarães, director of Confidencial Imobiliário, reminds that after the peak of 43,600 houses sold in the last quarter of 2021, the volume of housing sales was progressively reduced, the only exception being the null variation registered in the second quarter of 2022. The sharpest drop (of -9.1%) occurred in the first three months of 2022, with 33,100 units sold.
“In addition to sales, the market is holding the positive dynamic in terms of valuation, despite the recent price deceleration,” says Ricardo Guimarães, referring to the latest available data, which show that in May the sale prices of homes in Portugal had a monthly variation of 0.6% and year-on-year of 14.1%.
This evolution maintains the upward trajectory, although at a much slower pace than at the beginning of the year, it adds. “In the accumulated March to May 2023, homes in Portugal were sold for an average price of 2130 euros per square meter, translating into an average price per fire of 220,947 euros,” according to data from the SIR – Residential Information System.
This evolution, for Ricardo Guimarães, opens the perspective that “the market will not devalue”, contrary to the expectations of some specialists at the end of last year.
SALES 22% BELOW PEAK MARKET
“Although the most recent activity is still 22% below the market peak and it is not a very expressive increase, there is effectively a sign of market stabilization, halting the loss cycle observed in the last year, translated into consecutive quarterly reductions in the number of sales,” adds Ricardo Guimarães.
For the director of CI, economic performance has successively exceeded expectations and, despite the rise in interest rates, inflation is on a downward path. “So far there have been no decreases in housing prices, so this recovery in sales suggests the reactivation of some demand that had been waiting and that will have adapted to the new market conditions in terms of financing,” he concludes.
