Portugal Lisbon (PIXABAY photo)
Portugal is closing its controversial “golden visa” program that allowed investors to obtain residence permits in exchange for buying residential real estate worth at least €500,000.
It is one of several measures taken last week to combat a housing crisis that the Portuguese government says has been exacerbated by the visas, Reuters reported. But the country’s more popular, and cheaper, alternatives to the Golden Visa program still attract hundreds of entrepreneurs from around the world.
As Portugal struggles with skyrocketing rents and inflation, housing groups argue that visas like these benefit wealthy foreigners at the expense of local residents by driving up the cost of living, adding that shutting down the golden visa is not an effective way to combat real estate speculation. As long as similar visas still exists, according to Reuters.
More in-
In the last ten years, since Portugal launched the “golden visa”, the proportion of foreign residents in the country has jumped by 40%, to more than half a million (about 10 million people live in the country). This trend has led to an increase in housing prices, with the average price of a house in Lisbon having tripled since 2015, according to analysts.
Let’s recall that thousands of Israelis have turned to real estate investments in Portugal in recent years, and of course benefited from this price increase, in addition to the fact that in exchange for the investments it was made easier for them to obtain Portuguese citizenship.
Today in Portugal, unique financing options of up to 75% are provided in the mortgage to finance the purchase from local banks in a way that allows the purchase of an apartment with equity starting at 60 thousand euros, a high return potential (8%-12%) and a positive and continuous forecast for a significant increase in value in the coming years.
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