'Beautiful luxury homes: a popular market in Portugal'

If we're talking about a real estate segment that has already shown its resilience to crises, it's luxury housing. And neither the pandemic nor the effects of the war in Ukraine - the surge in energy costs and inflation that forced the European Central Bank (ECB) to raise interest rates - seem to be leaving a mark on this segment of the market in Portugal. On the contrary. "We will have an ultra, ultra-luxury project, not just ultra-luxury (...). This is a market that has a demand in Portugal. While maintaining quality, we want to show that we can create something ultra, ultra-luxury and 100% Portuguese," says Federico Rosales, CEO of Príme Portugal Investment (Príme), in an interview with idealist/news, promising to reveal more details about this' soon'project.

This will be this construction company's seventh project in Portugal, joining five other residential developments in Lisbon - Santo António, Liberdade 49, Azure, BOW 123 and NAU 30 - and one St. Léger office complex, also in the capital. But there are other investments in the pipeline, particularly in Melides, says Federico Rosales, adding that Príme has already invested around 160 million euros in the country. "I would say we can invest another 100 million euros in the coming years with the projects we have in the payplan," he adds.

The executive says Portugal remains on the radar of international investors and there are also many clients buying luxury homes in the country. Federico Rosales, who was born in Venezuela and is a partner at Príme along with''Italian Filippo Buffa, assures that the construction company is always looking for unique assets in unique locations, creating also unique projects, and gives a guarantee: "Príme's bet is on Portugal, and now we only invest in Portugal on a long-term basis".

How and when did Príme come to Portugal? It was in 2016, right? "

Yes.My partner, Filippo Buffa, started coming to Portugal because he had connections to the country, he had Portuguese friends, and because I knew him and knew that there were opportunities here, because Portugal was starting to change, we got a group of friends together and realized it was a good time to invest. It's a very interesting country. I knew Portugal but I hadn't yet seen it from an investment point of view. Filippo discovered''The opportunity is the Santo Antonio building in Lisbon [building completed and sold], which belonged to the Ministry of Defense and was being auctioned off. We bought the building, found an architectural firm and realized it was a good time to have a small team in Portugal. We started to see that there were other opportunities. We had already invested in Spain since 2012, we already knew the European real estate market and we started to pay more attention to Portugal because the market was more depressed, so there was more work to do.

And you continued to invest in Portugal...

Yes, our second project was Liberdade 49.And then we decided to take a risk and look for other opportunities. Regarding investments, both family offices and other investors that we have,''realized that we had a Portuguese team and realized that we had analytical skills and good knowledge of the market. Príme is a construction company, but it brings together a group of investors, right? "

Yes, family and friends, as we usually say, and we keep that idea. So we are more flexible, especially with a lot of competition. We know our limit on how much we can spend/invest. That's always been our idea. We always want to create a quality product. Liberdade 49, for example, was an office building, but on that site [Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon] it made more sense to create a luxury residential complex. This idea applies to other projects such as BOW 123 and NAU 30, for example?

Definitely. We refer to the Portuguese''Portugal after the apartment bought by Cristiano Ronaldo on Castillo Street?

We don't usually talk about it, but to be honest, we sold the penthouse in Liberdade 49 for a higher price than Ronaldo: we sold it for 16,800 euros per m2. And sold it by video call. It also has a pool and a fantastic view. Did this penthouse in the BOW 123 building exceed those values?

Yes. It cost about 11 million euros. The owner is a foreigner and he bought this property in a pre-sale before the pandemic. Currently, there are only four apartments left for sale.

Are there any Portuguese among the buyers? In this and other Príme projects?

We have about 30% Portuguese buyers on average in all projects. In BOW 123, we have three Portuguese investors [totaling 17''apartments]. Is there an important luxury market for the Portuguese, are there people who like top products? "

Totally agree, there are a lot of interested people. There is an important group of quality people. There is not the problem here that other countries have, where the emphasis is shifted to nightlife or partying. Sport, nature and family, family values are very much appreciated in Portugal. It's not Príme's target market, but how do you feel about the problem of needing more investment and focus on middle class housing in Portugal?

This is an issue that municipalities need to be involved in and that requires organization to develop projects at a more sustainable pace. But it is clear that more needs to be done. It is also clear that there is a need to''Develop more because there are many areas in Lisbon where the supply can be increased. It may also be worth looking at improving and expanding infrastructure and mobility.

Is investment in Porto part of Príme's plans?

We are very fond of Porto. It is a city with great potential, but we are very focused on Lisbon. We have a team here, we know the city and there's still a lot of work to do. We think we add more value here by not being so spread out. And actually, the interior of the country is already around.

Are there still properties in Lisbon that can be redeveloped and have the potential to be turned into luxury residential developments?

I can't say there are many, but there are. As in all cities, it's not''just a feature of Lisbon, there are many abandoned buildings that have been standing for years because of inheritance issues, for example. That happens a lot. Our bet is on the long-term future and, as I said, we are more inclined to look at giving new meaning to the buildings, turning them from office to residential, for example.

Has this process of changing the designation because of the delay in issuing licenses had any impact on Príme's activities?

We have no major complaints, of course if response times improve that would be ideal. The rules are clear. If you interpret the rules, the laws, everything is fine. The problem arises when you suddenly want to increase the square footage, for example, when the norms do not allow it. We interpret the rules before we buy a property and we already know what we can do''do. So we know it's only a matter of time, we know how long it will take the municipality.

Can we conclude that Príme is firmly established in Portugal and will continue to invest in real estate?

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