“Today, we are faced with yet another piece of news that doesn’t surprise us, which is yet another increase in housing costs. It can be said that the Government’s choices are indeed producing the expected effect, which is the rise in house prices, the growth of banking business, and the expansion of real estate funds,” he said.
Paulo Raimundo was speaking at a CDU public session in Seixal, in the Setúbal district, attended by former, current, and candidate municipal officials of the CDU-PEV coalition in the municipalities of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
The housing price index rose 17.2% in the second quarter, accelerating by 0.9 percentage points compared to the previous three months, with more than 10 billion euros being transacted, as reported by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
According to INE, prices of existing homes increased by 18.3%, and new housing rose by 14.5% between April and June.
Compared to the previous three months, the Housing Price Index (IPHab) increased by 4.7%, against 4.8% in the previous quarter, with existing homes rising by 5.1% and new housing increasing by 3.8%.
Paulo Raimundo accused the Government of capitalizing on business decisions made at the last Council of Ministers by “adding more benefits to banks and real estate funds, through the careless sale of public assets and the creation of public-private partnerships for housing.”
“Everything, everything, everything is a business, and the housing crisis we face in the country, particularly in the metropolitan area, is not addressed by giving more benefits to those who profit from the business, based on exploitative living. It is solved through the central role of the State in promoting public housing across various areas, as we have emphasized. And that is what needs to be broken,” he stressed.
The general secretary of PCP argued for breaking away “from the constant disinvestment of the State in the housing area and the logic of channeling everything profitable to financial capital, leaving what has no financial return to local authorities or the social sector.”
He emphasized that if there has been intervention in housing, it has been through local authorities.
Paulo Raimundo also remarked that the municipal elections and their results will not solve the structural problems of the country, but he considers that “the results of the CDU are not indifferent to the response required for the elderly, children, and the underprivileged.”
“Every step forward by the CDU is a step in the life of workers, the population, and the youth; it is a step in the right direction in the Lisbon metropolitan area. And it is with this sense of responsibility for the lives of those who live and work here in the metropolitan area that we stand, ready to fulfill the commitments we are assuming here today,” he stressed.
