Brazilians control luxury real estate in Portugal.

Photo: Ricardo Oliveira Alves / Distribution

Portugal, the main destination for Brazilian migration to Europe

Experiencing an unusual story. The community of former colonists set a new record in June of this year, with 250,000 Brazilians legally residing in Portugal, according to the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF).

The daily presence throughout Portugal is particularly felt in areas where competition in the real estate market is most intense. On Avenida da Liberdade, where the price per square meter of residential property is 11,000 euros, Brazilians make up 13% of foreign property owners in this region - the largest foreign community settled in the heart of Lisbon.

Brazilians have become the main foreign investors in residential real estate in Portugal.

The market, which amounted to 30 billion euros in 2021, according to the Idealista platform. Until 2019, the French (16%) were the leaders in foreign capital inflow into residential real estate in the country. In 2020, Brazilians became the leaders of the ranking and emerged as one of the main players in the Portuguese real estate market.

“The market has not yet recovered in terms of property sales, but it has already surpassed 2019 in terms of investment volume,” said Eliana Ribeiro, a Brazilian realtor with RE/MAX Europa. From January to July 2022, gold visas issued to Brazilians attracted 36.3 million euros in investments to Portugal (residency permits are contingent on purchasing property worth at least 500,000 euros or transferring at least 1.5 million euros into the country).

Brazilians prefer properties with a view of the sea or river.

Noticing this demand, VIC Properties chose the Tejo River coast in Lisbon for one of its main projects of the year: Prata Riverside Village. The architect of this project is Renzo Piano, and the share of Brazilian buyers is 15%, which is the largest foreign audience for the project. At Athenas Advisers, which has two projects in the metropolitan area, even a property worth 4.3 million euros did not deter Brazilians. On the contrary, the number of interested parties has increased recently.

Publication in the journal, issue 100, August 2022.