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Person holding a key and a sign in shape of a house

The ‘gold visas’ for property investment ended in October and the regime for Non-Habitual Residents (NHR), under the old terms, ended in 2024. This resulted in a cooling of international demand for houses for sale at the end of 2023, especially by Americans.

According to data from idealista/data, in the same period there was also a decrease in foreign interest in renting a house in Portugal, but they still represent more than 22 per cent of the total demand for houses to buy and rent in our country.

As far as buying is concerned, the data shows that demand from foreigners accounted for 23.1 per cent of the total in the last quarter of 2023, compared to 24.3 per cent in the previous quarter (-1.2 percentage points).

Among the main foreign nationalities looking to buy a house in Portugal, the French have been the most prominent over the last five years, almost always remaining in first place, having only been overtaken by the Americans between the summer of 2022 and the summer of 2023.

In the last quarter of 2023, after the end of golden visas was approved, it was noted that Americans’ interest in buying a house in the country cooled from 12.4 per cent in the summer to 11.4 per cent at the end of the year, leaving them in first place. And interest from Brazilians also fell during this period, so much so that they dropped out of the top five after a regular presence since 2019.

As for rentals, the weight of demand from foreigners ended the year at 22.2 per cent of the total, the lowest figure since mid-2021. This percentage is therefore lower than that recorded in the previous quarter (23.6%), as well as in the same period of the previous year (29.7%).

Brazil has been the main country of origin for foreign rental demand over the last five years, ending 2023 weighing 24.2 per cent of the total. The second largest demand comes from the USA (10.4 per cent of the total), followed by Spain (8.2 per cent), Germany (6.5 per cent) and the United Kingdom (6.4 per cent), according to the same data. Many of these foreigners who decide to rent a house in the country are digital nomads and retirees looking for a mild climate combined with a good cost of living.

However, despite this data, it’s not just these tax regimes that attract world citizens to live in Portugal: the mild climate, quality of life, safety and good health and education services, along with the digital nomad regime, are also important factors in attracting these families who want to change their lives.

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