Where to buy in Portugal?

omostra06

omostra06

New Member
Central Portugal

An Agents View.

After a very successful summer with lots of overseas interest in our region of Central portugal, the start of the winter has already been better than expected, November saw us double the normal number of sales for that month, resulting in 2 sales per week for the month

most of these were to overseas buyers, although we expect December to be a little slower things for some registered Agents in Central portugal this year have been great overall.

One thing we are seing an increase in is buyers awarness of the different regions, their price differences and the climate. over the last few years more and more information on these central portugal regions as been published. This helps buyers interested in Central Portugal make informed choices about the Good areas and the bad areas, some regions of central portugal have very cheap property for sale, but as always its cheap for a reason, remote, lack of amenities, lack of employment, etc, all play a part in making some regions less desirable and not offer good quality of life.

We have also over the last year seen an increasing number of expats that want to sell up after perhaps one or two years, the reason for most of these people is that there is not enough to do where they choose to buy and lack of good quality amenities, e.g. shops, resturants, entertainment, schools or work opertunities. is a big resaon for these expats selling up and moving closer to bigger towns like Tomar, Abrantes, Torres Novas, santarem,etc all within easy links to lisbon city and airport as well as being big enough to offer lots to do as well as work opertunities. another factor that seems to play a part is the weather, north of the region around Tomar the weather can be very cold, damp and even have snow and ice in winter, some people didnt realise this when they bought "a place in the sun" so have had enough of cold damp winters and want to move further south, as little as one hours drive south can make a massive difference to winter temps.

I always suggest that the best way to move to Portugal and make a success of it is take your time, perhaps rent first to see if the region suits you, before buying and maybe struggling to resell if you buy in the wrong region. think about what you need closby to enjoy or afford life here, if you need to work then make sure you buy near a big town, if the locals have to move from small villages and declining rural towns, think how much harder it will be for a expats to find paid employment.

some property in central portugal appears at first glance to be very cheap or great value, but some care should be taken, some of these cheap properties are in rural locations, or close to declining towns, so the owners have had to reduce the prices to get any interest in the property. In some of these location property can take years to sell, one of the worse situations weve seen with these locations is , people (who perhaps dont know the different regions) buy a cheap house and then restore it, what they then have is an expensive house in a location where properties only sell because they are cheap, very hard to sell in that situation.

If the locals are moving to bigger towns to find work and better quality of life, the overseas buyers want the same, so if you end up owning a property in a location that you have tired of, or found very hard to make a living from, then it could be very hard and time consuming to get a buyer interested, not to mention the possibilty of losing money if you have to reduce to get a sale inorder to move on.

Over the last 6 years or so I have seen many expat owned property come onto the market, advertised as B&B or guest house, in these less desirable regions, where the owner has tried to make a living and it just has not worked, some places people just dont want to visit, regardless of hard the owner works at marketing the business. so they sell up in order to move to busier locations, expensive mistake to make, good research before buying should avoid this.

To balance this,
I know several expats that make a very good living here from buying restoring and selling on property, these people are very careful only to buy in saught after locations, and are carefull about choosing the right type of property. some of these properties in desirable locations can sell very quickly, we have sold many within a few days of them coming onto the market. as always its location, location, location that makes the difference between making a good living selling property or being stuck with a property and not making any profit at all!

Any where around one hour from Lisbon is a good safe region, more so if its near to castelo do bode lake, the southern part of the lake is less than one hour from lisbon, this makes these villages/towns (Tomar & Abrantes 10 mins from lake) in that location great places to buy into, no problem for resell should you decide to move as thousands of people from Lisbon look for and buy holiday homes around the southern part of the lake and because its a popular place to live and go on holiday there are loads of resturants and shops to service these people.

Take your time if your looking at buying in Central Portugal, its a big region with very dramaticaly different prices for the various locations.

Hope this helps
Derek
 
AshleyIngle

AshleyIngle

New Member
An Agents View.

After a very successful summer with lots of overseas interest in our region of Central portugal.... Take your time if your looking at buying in Central Portugal, its a big region with very dramaticaly different prices for the various locations.

Hope this helps
Derek
An Interesting read, Derek.

I am not a property expert but it is mostly common sense? basic supply/ demand.

I have certainly seen a fair share of clients looking to buy land/ ruin, renovate and sell when the times are better.

I do agree with the rent first, especially for people who want to relocate - but would you 'miss the boat' so to speak? or do you still see opportunities will be in for the long term/ thoughts on market becoming 'saturated'?

What about the new builds/ developers? is it a quiet time for them?
 
omostra06

omostra06

New Member
A general view of the market. (in central Portugal)

Although generally the market in Portugal is quite flat, its a safe predictable market, property values dont rise hugely.

(despite what some estate agents will put out as spin! some are quoting increases of 20% when the region takes off, whatever that means!)

A slow steady growth means you know what is expected, you will not make huge fortunes just by purchasing a property and sitting on it. The way to make money on property in Central Portugal is to buy the right type of property at the right price, in the right location, then do the right changes and improvments to make it desirable to the largest segment of buyers.

There is property value growth here of around 5% but as always this is dependant on the type of property, the market demand, location etc.

If you were looking to buy a property here (or build/restore) for investment, then the first most important thing to consider and get right is your choice of location, as I mentioned earlier some location around central Portugal are very desirable, properties in these region sell fast and for good strong values.

other less desirable location are not a safe investment, because even if you buy and restore a property, making it very attractive, if the location is not good it just wont sell, or it will sell eventually but at a low price!

as an example,
you may see a stone 3 bed farmhouse advertised in one of the less desirable regions, an area where there are little oportunities for employment and not much in the way of amenities, possibly also a little isolated, (lots of areas like this in central portugal) you will see property in these locations for around 30,000 to 40,000 euros, you then spend say 50,000 restoring the property, to create a nice family home. the value (depending on how well its done) would then jump to around 90,000 to 110,000 euros.
But, it will take a very long time to sell, and you may well have to lower the price to attract interest. you might make some money, but from experiance of meeting and talking with lots of people who have been in this situation, generally they dont come out of it with any propfit.

Now take a look at the same house in a more desirable region. it will cost more for you to buy, perhaps around 60,000 to 70,000 euros, it will cost about the same to carry out the renovations 50,000 euros. but the restored family home in a desirable region where there are lots of amenities, schools, resturants, shops and much better work oportunities. this property should be worth around 195,000 to 225,000 euros. it will attract a lot of interest from buyers and should sell quite quickly giving the developer a nice profit. I have also met lots of people who have been in this situation.

Just a note on rebuilding costs.
I mentioned that rebuilding a property should be the same regardless of where it is, but in reality it can cost you more in rural regions. The reason for this.

If you are rebuilding near to a large town, you will have dozens if not hundreds of building companies to pick from, this large number of competition keeps the prices low. you will also have lots of shops and builders merchants selling materials, again lots of them means better discounts being offered to get the business.

so the quote you get from your builders (3 or 4 that you have picked from the many after seeing their work and personal recomendations) will be very competitive if they want the work.

compare this with what can happen in a rural location,
there may well only be one or two building companies working in that region, the material suppliers will be fewer and further away. so when you get your quote from the one or two builders, (you have to ask these guys as there is no one else) they can quote any price they like, it doesnt have to be competitive as there is no one to beat their quote, its not unheard of for them to quote together on an agreed high price! one of them will get the job!

So it can in effect cost more to build/restore in a rural area than near a big towñ. so it might be more exspensive to get the house finished only to be faced with a low market value for the finished house in that region, perhaps even less than the total you have spent!

So the location is key to getting this right.

You then have to look at what to build, how many rooms, what layout etc, some restored houses sell well because they have well thought out layouts and good choice of quality materials.

Newbuilds
There are lots of newbuilds on the market, they are all more or less the same format/style, so again the location is what will make one sell quicker than another.
many builders have been stuck for long periods with new builds, having to reduce the price to get them sold. quite a few builders are getting more switched on to researching what is in demand an then building the property to fit the market, rather than the old way of just building the biggest house they can fit onto the plot!

A buyers market.
If you are looking to buy a property just to live and enjoy with no real interest in resell value and time frame, then you have lots of choice and could buy anywhere, perhaps you would look at some of the more rural regions where the values are lower and on appearance you get more for your money.
If you are going to keep the house a long time or perhaps only use it as a holliday home, then buying a cheaper property in more rural location will save you some money, But dont forget to look at the quality of life you will have in that location, many expats buy in these types of locations only to sell up and move after a year or so because they got bored and struggled to find things to do, most people are social and like to be entertained. if that were to happen then how long would it take to find a buyer so that you can sell up and move to get on with your life in another better location?

In any location, now is a great time to try and pick up a bargain, many owners are open to offers, sometimes accepting substantially lower than the asking price especially in rural regions. dont be afraid to come in with low offers, you can always increase.

My views on this are from living here in central portugal for around 6 years, having built and restored añd sold some properties of my own, as well as helping a large number of clients buy, rebuild, develop and sell their properties here through my company. after a while you get to see the trends of what works and what doesnt, the values in the example are based on the regions between Tomar and Penela, serta regions
 
B

bossman

New Member
Does anybody know of any auctioneers who specialise in development land? I'm not necessarily looking for a Portuguese auctioneer, they could be anywhere in Europe.

Thanks in anticipation.

Paul
 
omostra06

omostra06

New Member
Hi Paul, not sure of any that sell land, there are auction sites but not used much for property, if its a development plot then better to speak with an agent that specialises in selling development property to investors.
 
B

bossman

New Member
Thank you for your help omostra; don't suppose you know of any agents who specialise in these things?

Regards.
 
J

James Glassbrook

Member
Thank you for your help omostra; don't suppose you know of any agents who specialise in these things?

Regards.
We at John Hill SMI Lda sell developement land in the central Algarve under normal circumstances but now is the worst period in our thirty year history,
Jim
 
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B

bossman

New Member
Thanks Jim

The plots I own are in the Obidos area of the Silver Coast and, therefore, in a different price bracket. Before the recession, this area was highlighted as the next growth area in Portugal.

I imagine the effect has been the same as in the Algarve but do you know any specialist agents covering that region?

Many thanks.

Paul
 
J

James Glassbrook

Member
Thanks Jim

The plots I own are in the Obidos area of the Silver Coast and, therefore, in a different price bracket. Before the recession, this area was highlighted as the next growth area in Portugal.

I imagine the effect has been the same as in the Algarve but do you know any specialist agents covering that region?

Many thanks.

Paul
There are numerous agents up there but I'm afraid that I don´t know of anyone who specialises.
 
R

RainerR

New Member
360% Compounded Growth Rate??

I'm curious - how much of that is still valid, after nearly 7 years???

You are partially correct - whilst the website does mention Portugal as a Country - the programme that aired on TV made specific reference to the Silver Coast. The statistic mentioned was a 360% componded growth over a 10 year period. In other words, if you invest 100k now - it'll be worth 360k in 10 years time. This research was done 2 years ago.
 
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