Real estate mediation on the rise: companies tripling in 10 years.

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In Portugal, the number of real estate licenses is growing year on year. By the end of 2023, 9,762 valid licenses were registered. In recent years until 2022, house sales have been in good shape, mainly due to low mortgage costs. This situation has led to a sharp increase in the number of real estate companies in Portugal. Data from the Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction (IMPIC) shows that in the last ten years alone, the number of real estate agencies has more than tripled to over nine thousand. But there may be "ghost" agencies among these companies, as the law does not require the registration of a minimum number of transactions per year.

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Analyzing the number of valid licenses for real estate agencies, we can say that the number of real estate agencies in Portugal is growing year by year (by 12.9% on average).

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The Lisbon region has the highest number of real estate agencies (3,104 licenses), followed by Porto (1,535), Faro (1,043) and Madeira (263), say the same data.

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There are "ghost" agencies - the law does not require a minimum number of transactions.

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IMPIC data do not include the number of licenses revoked at the request of real estate agencies. However, they all also include licenses issued to agencies that do not represent any activity. And this is because the law does not require "a minimum or maximum number of intermediary transactions in a certain period," explained Fernando Batista, head of IMPIC, the institute that issues and monitors real estate agency licenses.

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This means that if the statutory requirements are met, a real estate brokerage company does not lose its license in the absence of activity. "The license does not expire or suspend in the absence of real estate intermediation activity", provided that the company "at all times complies with the license requirements provided by law and demonstrates them to IMPIC, and pays the annual fee provided by law", indicates Fernando Batista, quoted by the same publication.