**

From youth to old age, changes are constant. But at every stage of life there is one common element: home. In it, we learn or work, enjoy alone or with family, and rest after a light or hard day. In it, we can nurture the dream of building and expanding the family, as well as of old age and returning to an empty nest. No matter what moment we find ourselves in, home accompanies the cycle of life. And if in the past a home for life was the rule, today new contexts require alternatives, as reported by experts surveyed by idealista/news.

To be a student or to leave to work in another city

** Often means constant changes of residence, often living together and living in rooms. Then, as a rule, they come to their own rented apartments. However, historically Portugal is a country with more owners than tenants, and many want to have their own space and decide to direct efforts and savings towards buying their own home, mainly resorting to a mortgage. And that's when the first house is bought.

Meanwhile the family is growing.

and the need for space grows. But then the children leave the house and it remains empty again. The rooms are already redundant and old age demands other conditions. Life goes on... In adulthood, although nothing is static and we are constantly evolving, at some point we have the expectation of having a home for life.

A house for life?

The trend is changing. According to Mariana Morgado Pedroso, CEO and architect of Architect Your Home (AYH), not all people are looking for a home for life. That ambition or dream, she says, may arise at "a very specific moment in life, particularly for newlyweds or young parents." "But at other times in life, when the goals and realities of daily life are different, the search can be the complete opposite: a temporary home while studying or a new job in another city, or an investment property that we want to sell later," she says.

In addition, according to the architect, "the houses we live in in Portugal are often designed for only one situation." "I don't think most houses are designed with transitions in mind. The closest thing would probably be a two-bedroom apartment that is flexible enough for a single person who uses the second room for an office or guests, or for a small family that provides a second room for one or two children," she says.

Lack of supply and high prices

Portugal is currently experiencing a serious housing crisis and the difficulties are becoming greater for both those who already have a home and those who are looking for one, whether to buy or rent. In order to mitigate the impact of rising interest rates and inflation on families' budgets, the government decided to launch a housing policy package that is already in force, but there is still a problem that has been affecting the market for several years: the lack of supply, which is not enough to meet demand, and which postpones the dream of buying a first home or the need to replace it.

According to Alfredo Valente, the hardest homes to find right now are new homes. "Since the crisis in Portugal last decade, we have never recovered the necessary level of new construction to meet demand, which has put pressure on existing homes and caused prices to rise. The demand for new homes is very strong and is definitely the main constraint in the market," he says.

To this should be added the level of housing prices, which has been rising in recent years without any real accompaniment to the growth of available incomes (which, incidentally, are falling due to inflation). According to the mediator, "the problem is the correlation between the price level and wages. This is especially true for buying a first home, where the issue becomes most acute. Rising home values in recent years make moving from house to house generally not an issue, as there is basically a significant increase in value from selling your current home to invest in a new one. But in the case of buying a first home, yes."