Portugal Property Market 2012

P.P.Property have recorded their best start to a year for three years, website visitor numbers are at record levels and so are enquiries. The value and the number of properties sold is also at the highest level for three years.
This trend looks set to continue with the Euro at far more favourable rates compared to Sterling and the Scandinavian currencies.
Property prices in Portugal are at levels not seen for several years and many industry professionals are saying that they have bottomed out or are close to doing so. This has reignited the interest of a number of seasoned investors who are looking to cash in.
Now is certainly a great time to buy a Property in Portugal.

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There is a lot of talk about exports leading countries out of recession. Portugal is no exception to this, indeed Portugal has had some success in improving their traditional export market such as shoes, olive oil, cork and wine, as well as increasing their share of high tech exports, particularly in the green energy sector.
Tourism also has been on the rise, in part because of the Arab spring, Portugal recorded record tourist numbers in 2011, Portugal appears to be putting more money and effort into promoting other areas outside the Algarve, to try and take advantage of its abundant riches in nature, history, culture and of course Golf.
There is another big ticket export that never gets called as such, that is the overseas property market in Portugal. Every time someone from outside Portugal, buys a house in Portugal that is an export, a big one. It is also an export that carries with it a higher tax income for the government than most exports.
Portugal property sales have other follow up business also, such as work for constructors, sales of other big ticket items such as cars, furniture and white goods and of course expatriates or people visiting their holiday home consume electricity, gas, pay their taxes, eat and put petrol in their cars.
Much of this money comes from overseas, so once again these transaction are exports. Pretty much whenever someone goes to transfer money overseas an export is taking place, Portugal should encourage the overseas property market make it even easier, speed up planning in the council areas that are obstructive and promote the areas of Portugal where expats are likely to want to move to.
An encouraging start to 2012 has been made with record visitors to Rightmove and www.perfectportugalproperty.co.uk, and the best start to a year in terms of sales made, in three years.

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How do these people get paid for writing such rubbish, a number of economic journalists are now warning Greece not to follow Portugal’s lead of austerity because there debt to gdp ratio has gone up.

What else could it possibly do?

Of course by shrinking the public sector as quickly as Portugal is doing it is going to squeeze growth, or in this case exacerbate the shrinking of the economy.

The point of shrinking the public sector is that less taxes ultimately have to be raised from everywhere else to pay for it. Admittedly for the first several years these savings will just go into debt management, but eventually a dynamic and diverse economy led by the private sector will emerge.

The public sector should only be used to stimulate an economy in times of trouble, the idea that we can redistribute wealth by giving people jobs that don’t need doing in the public sector is and always has been nonsense.

It does of course work in the short term but eventually the debt incurred by the nation becomes UN-payable moreover a whole lot of real growth has been lost, instead of people striving to do business they have all been far to busy polishing seats in empty offices, or leaning on shovels wondering what it is they are supposed to be doing.

Of course this a very simplistic view but it is a very simple equation, if you want to have a very large public sector, you need an enormous private sector to fund it.

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Is Europe Under Attack

The ratings agency Standard & Poor’s reduced the rating of eleven Euro-zone countries and in particular deemed Portugal as uninvestable.

So at a time when several large corporates are investing in Portugal, stability was returning to the markets, borrowing costs were falling and some glimmers of hope were appearing on the horizon S&P decide now’s the time to send shock-waves through the market.

Do they have an agenda, perhaps even a US lead agenda is there a body of people out there determined to see the Euro fail. I don’t want to sound like some of my conspiracy theory mates but it doesn’t make sense. The timing is just so perfect right down to the date Fri 13^th.

The pressure that these people are piling on Greece to leave the Euro and that is especially US led is astonishing especially when you consider that the Greek people are over 70% in favour of remaining in the Euro. What’s democratic about that I think those chaps across the pond should start re-examining their democratic credentials.

Leaving the Euro would make matters much worse and the Greeks no it and the effect on the world banking system would be seismic.

I think we should start to seriously re-evaluate the relationship that the ratings agencies have with the markets and perhaps decide that an independent internationally elected body with access to sovereign accounts should take over this job.

Its a nonsense that a private company can have this kind of power with zero accountability, they have become to big for anyone’s boots and need to be removed like any other parasite.

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Will Portugal Become The New Dunkirk?

The idea that Britain is mobilizing the military and perhaps a fleet of small boats to rescue Britain’s from Portugal if the system collapses is absurd. Or is there a civil war going on that I am unaware of?

If I was to put on my cynical hat, I would perhaps think that the UK government was trying to tempt those of us with deposits greater than €100,000, (which is the state guaranteed amount per bank per person in Portugal) to move there money back to the UK, saves them providing liquidity after all.

But lets say there is a financial Armageddon and the Banks wont give you any money and you forgot to fill up the car and didn’t have any spare cash, relatives or friends in the entire world that would help you.

Wouldn’t it be easier to send some chaps from the embassy down to the Airport and lend everyone a ticket. Send a few extra planes perhaps, its hard enough to persuade expatiates to leave war zones let alone predicting a mass exodus because they cant afford 55c for there morning coffee.

I also read that one of the reasons for an exodus could be because they wont be able to pay their mortgages and they will lose their Villas!!! What; tomorrow, most of us notice if we are not making our mortgage payments and have plenty of time to make arrangements. Besides are they now expecting us to believe that the Banks wont accept any money. Most expatiates with mortgages receive their money from their country of origin.

Don’t expect to see a flotilla of small boats turning up on a coastline in Portugal any time soon, or the British military, or the UN, or anyone else on a rescue mission, its a silly story and a silly idea.

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P.P.Property is opening its digital doors; for guest writers who would like to contribute about anything to do with Portugal or real estate.

We do not accept material that is solely self promotional, however if your article or post is beneficial to our visitors, some promotional content may be included.

We have a number of ways that you can promote your company on the P.P.Property website, including inclusion into our already well visited business directory.

Companies that wish to advertise with P.P.Property should contact Paul Stubbs.

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Portugal’s Mineral Bonanza

Apparently Portugal has just sold licences for oil and gas exploration off the Algarve, they are in talks with major companies such as Rio Tinto about Gold and Iron Ore deposits that are potentially worth a fortune.

What were they doing with it all this time “saving it up for a rainy day”. This is not recently discovered mineral wealth that somehow got overlooked it has been known about for some time.

We all know that there can be a lack of impatience when it comes to Portuguese bureaucracy but sitting on vast amounts of mineral deposits through decades of financial mediocrity seems to be a bit, well, slap dash.

Four years ago the Government looked into digging up these vast economy saving riches but decided against it because !!!!!! no you got me there.

Thank the heavens there is now a government that puts its economy, which ultimately means its people before political idealism.

Large companies investing lots of money in Portugal will help to turn around the economy in Portugal faster than any other measure. With the recent Chinese investment into EDP as well as these mineral companies chipping in, this will with a bit of luck pave the way for further already interested parties to join the party.

Please multi national companies may not be everyone’s cup of tea but they rarely back the wrong horse. Its time for all these doom sayers to accept that Portugal is staying in the Euro and has a bright future ahead of it.

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Am I Missing Something

Maybe its just me but all of these predictions in the press of economic strife in the euro-zone for 2012 seem just a little pessimistic. I shall tell you why I think so.

Firstly the main problem in 2011 has been one of confidence, there is plenty of money sitting on corporate balance sheets, enough to give the economy a pretty good shove. But they have not invested it because no one was certain that there would be a euro in 2012.

Those fears are abating; although the little granny steps taken by Europe’s beleaguered leaders have been frustrating to watch, they have made progress.
There has to be a lot more from them, but few can doubt the determination of these politicians to keep the euro-zone intact.

Also a change in leadership at the ECB has seen some well overdue interventions from them. Two interest rate drops in as many months and more are likely. They have also increased liquidity into the system to the tune of half a trillion Euros.

Of course this in turn has forced the single currency down, another fact ignored by the press who prefer to report the downward cycle of the currency to confidence in the market.

There are also now very positive signs that the US economy is starting to rally.

So for 2012 we have a depreciating Euro and an increase in markets such as Asia, US and Africa, this can only help European exports. The continuing unrest in North Africa and beyond can only aid the depreciation of the Euro into providing another bumper year for tourism.

Portugal’s government has been given some pretty hefty Browny points for their handling of the crises and their rise in popularity at home suggests that they will not have to deviate from their plan any time soon.

Any suggestion that Portugal is leaving the Euro is nonsense. They are ahead of the curve on consolidating their finances and exports have been rising solidly throughout 2011. 2012 will be a tough year for the Portuguese, but I believe it will end a lot better than it starts and as long as the government speed up the reforms to help business in Portugal 2013 can be a very good year indeed.

I have said before that  2011 is the low point in the Portugal property market as far as overseas buyers are concerned and all of these factors reinforce this belief.

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planning Januarys clients, its looking busy !!

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