According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), the sale of houses to international buyers fell by around 20% at the beginning of 2024 compared to the previous quarter.

What stands out is that this drop in the purchase of houses in Portugal by foreigners coincides with the end of the regime for Non-Habitual Residents (RNH), under the old terms, and the end of golden visas for real estate investment. This impact of the end of tax benefits on the residential market had already been anticipated by the experts interviewed by idealista.

Foreign buyers

INE data reveals that 33,077 homes were sold in Portugal in the first quarter of 2024, 4.1% less than the same period last year and 3.1% less than the previous quarter. It is also observed that this drop in house transactions was more significant for foreign buyers than for Portuguese buyers.

Buyers residing in the national territory: purchased 31,010 homes, 3.1% less year-on-year and 1.6% less compared to the previous quarter. This is the lowest number since the second quarter of 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic was declared;

Buyers residing in the European Union (EU): purchased 989 homes at the beginning of 2024, a number 22.1% lower than that observed a year earlier and 19.8% lower than at the end of 2023;

Buyers residing in countries outside the EU: purchased a total of 1,078 homes in this period, 11.9% less year-on-year and 22.4% less compared to the previous quarter.

These numbers show a clear drop in the sale of houses in Portugal to foreign citizens at the beginning of 2024, such that Portuguese people now represent 93.8% of the total number of transactions, “the highest relative weight since the first quarter of 2022”, highlights the institute. You have to go back to spring 2021 to find such a low number of homes sold to foreigners.