“We have taken very bold and ambitious measures for the housing sector, [but] we want the country to understand that what we are doing in various sectors, including this one, is the development of a project that has, as the Portuguese saying goes, head, trunk, and limbs,” said Luís Montenegro during the inauguration of a student residence in Beja.
According to the head of the Government, this plan promises to “promote more housing in the public sector,” meaning “what depends on the Government, the central administration [and] local authorities,” as well as to ensure “access to decent housing [and] at a reasonable price.”
“It is also with this spirit that we want the market to build more houses for rent and for purchase at costs that are affordable for those who serve companies and the state,” he stated.
Following a visit to the new facilities of the Residência Europa, managed by the Polytechnic Institute of Beja, Luís Montenegro emphasized that it is the Government’s duty “to address the accommodation of students who are in higher education, but also the dignity of student housing before they arrive here.”
“Naturally, we want to ensure that those who are at a decisive stage of their education, acquiring knowledge, innovative capacity [and] even deepening research, have the conditions to successfully complete this stage, so they can later contribute their knowledge to the development of the country,” he affirmed.
The Prime Minister also stressed that the education sector should “express the dimension of equality” and it must be ensured that “no one stops studying due to economic conditions or geographical distance from the centers where more and better teaching takes place.”
“That is why the network of higher education institutions, with their universities and polytechnic institutes, is at the center of our action,” he said.
According to Luís Montenegro, within the scope of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), the Government plans to contract “19,000 additional beds for students” by the end of the year.
“We now have 32 new residences completed and 104 residences under construction. When we came to the Government in 2024, we had only completed 10 and had 46 under construction. [Therefore], this effort is to continue and see through to the end,” he assured.
Today, at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting, Luís Montenegro announced that the Government will reduce the VAT rate to 6% for the construction of houses for sale up to 648,000 euros or, if for rent, with rents up to 2,300 euros—a tax regime that will be in effect until 2029.
Furthermore, the minimum VAT rate of 6% will also apply “to the construction and rehabilitation of buildings” for rentals up to the value of 2,300 euros.
Montenegro also decreed an increase in the Municipal Property Transfer Tax (IMT) for the purchase of homes by non-resident citizens in Portugal, excluding emigrants.
