Real estate activity: more closing companies than a year ago

In the first half of 2023, 27,385 new companies were created in Portugal, corresponding to an increase of 6.3% (+ 1,625 companies) compared to the same period in 2022. The real estate and construction sectors contributed to this increase, representing respectively 9.5% and 11.1% of the total number of companies created.

There are, however, more companies closing in the real estate industry, both in the first six months of the year (+12.1%) and in the last 12 months (+9.6%). According to the Informa D&B barometer. The first six months of the year were also marked by an increase in the number of closings (474), 12.1% more than in the same period last year (423).

The construction sector stands out with an increase in the number of companies and a decrease in closings.

The transportation sector remains at the forefront of the total number of companies created in the first half of 2023, accounting for 12% of the total number of companies created in the half-year, up 5 percentage points from 2022.

Among the sectors with a decline in the creation of new companies, industry, the country's main export sector, stands out, with the number of companies created decreasing by 7.3% in the first half of 2023, reaching the lowest value in all years of comparison in the same period.

Bankruptcies increased by 14%, with the construction sector drawing particular attention. New bankruptcies increased 62% (+63 bankruptcies) in the first six months of the year, accounting for more than half of the total half-year increase, Informa D& notes; In absolute values, industry is still the sector with the highest number of new bankruptcy proceedings, an increase of 19% (+31 bankruptcies) in this indicator compared to the same period last year.

The closure of companies that reached minimum values in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic started to increase from the last two quarters of 2022. Analyzing the last 12 months, more than half of the activity sectors report an increase in closures compared to the previous 12 months. Sectors with the most closings include real estate (+102 closings, +9.6%), information technology and communications (+84 closings, +12.4%), hospitality (+62 closings, +4.0%) and transportation (+42 closings, +6.8%).