A substantial 57.8% of respondents believe that the predictability of rental laws is the most crucial factor in decision-making, surpassing net profitability (15%) and taxation (13.2%) on property owners.
The ALP characterizes these findings as indicative of a market marked by “distrust” towards the Government’s housing policies.
The Barometer results reveal that for more than half (55%) of respondents, government measures are insufficient to encourage them to release more houses into the market, although 29.4% say they “might” do so after learning more about the proposed package.
A majority (52.4%) express skepticism that the new policies will generate the “shock” promised by the government to address the housing crisis.
Regarding taxation, about 41% of property owners indicated that the executive’s “fiscal shock” measures have not reduced their distrust in the rental market, with 9.4% feeling even more apprehensive. Meanwhile, 12.4% of respondents viewed the measures positively.
However, the reduction of IRS and IRC rates on property income, from the current 25% to 10%, is considered “fair and necessary” by 46.6% of property owners.
In the coming year, nearly 70% of respondents intend to adjust rent values solely by the legal coefficient rate of 2.24%, which the ALP interprets as a “prudent” approach by landlords.
“The Government needs to understand that legislative predictability and stability are the true incentives for renting. Constantly changing rules and maintaining highly detrimental measures for property owners’ rights undermine landlords’ confidence and deter investment in housing,” says the president of ALP, Luís Menezes Leitão, in a statement.
Therefore, “the priority to reverse the current severe housing access crisis should be rebuilding property owners’ confidence,” he added.
The majority of Barometer participants are small-scale property owners, with around 60% owning up to five properties, and the most represented group comprising those who own between two and five rented properties (40.4%).
The ALP Owners’ Barometer aims to regularly assess “the sentiment and expectations” of property owners regarding the rental market and public housing policies.
This edition was compiled from the responses of 210 members, collected between October 3 and 17. Approximately 99% of respondents own rented properties.
