Almost 25,000 homes were sold in Portugal to foreigners between 2019 and 2021, totaling EUR 7.3 billion, according to official data.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the Algarve (pictured above) was the region most sought after by buyers with tax domicile outside Portugal, representing almost half of all houses transacted in that period, as well as the total value of these transactions.
In the last two years, the value of housing sales exceeded 72 billion euros, with 89.9% of this value (EUR 64.8 billion) corresponding to transactions whose buyer was tax domiciled in Portugal. The remaining 10% are divided: EUR 3.8 billion came from buyers in the European Union (EU) and EUR 3.5 billion from buyers from countries outside the EU bloc.
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According to INE, home sales involving buyers from outside the country registered a “more expressive” average transaction value. In the “other countries” category, the average value was 374,484 euros, more than double the average value of 149,644 euros for buyers with tax domicile in Portugal.
Also between 2019 and 2021, there were 24,988 transactions involving buyers with tax domicile outside Portugal, for a total of 7.3 billion euros. In an analysis by regions, the Algarve was the preferred region for these buyers, with a weight of 40.3% in number and 45.8% in value. The Lisbon Metropolitan Area is the second most representative location — 23.1% of total transactions and 35.4% of value.
“The contribution of buyers with tax domicile outside the national territory to the number and value of total sales shows significant differences between the different regions, with the highest weight in the Algarve (25.3% and 37.8%) and the lowest in the North (2.4% and 3.1%)”, INE says.
