An X-ray analysis of the housing crisis in Portugal at the end of the António Costa era.

After almost eight years as Prime Minister and exactly one month after the counter-version of the Mais Habitação housing package came into force, António Costa unexpectedly submitted his resignation to the Portuguese President due to a judicial investigation, which was immediately accepted.

It will not be formalized until after the approval of the 2024 State Budget (OE2024). The decision was announced by President Marcelo Rebelo de Souza on Thursday, when he also announced that he would then decide to dissolve Parliament and call early elections for March 10.

This means that the government's proposal for the 2024 State Budget, which is due to be voted on November 29, will receive approval from the Socialist majority and will make it possible to benefit from some support measures for Mais Habitação, a controversial program designed by Costa to solve the housing crisis, but which has drawn the discontent of the public, opposition parties and the real estate sector, the results of which remain to be seen.

Housing was one of the Socialist government's main policy slogans until the end of its rule, promising to increase the supply of affordable housing for families and young people. But the truth is that, apart from the uncertainty and uncertainty caused by many of Costa's measures, such as the abolition of "golden visas" or the abolition of non-resident status, the housing crisis is still unresolved and the situation will only get worse in 2023 due to the loss of purchasing power and the increase in mortgage interest rates.

But not only because of this: the residential market is suffering from a lack of supply that is still unable to meet demand, resulting in Portuguese house purchase prices rising by 4.8% in the last year and rents rising by 26.3%. And all together this is causing a slowdown in residential real estate purchases, with the number of transactions down compared to the recent past.

We explain point by point how António Costa - and his Socialist majority government - left Portugal's housing crisis.

Purchasing a home in Portugal has risen 4.8% in the last year.

Although house prices for sale have stabilized over the past four months (July to October), annual analysis shows that buying property in Portugal has risen by 4.8% over the past 12 months, according to data presented in the October idealista report.

With this increase, the median housing price is 2,500 euros per square meter (euro/m2). During this period and looking at the different administrative centers of the country, the largest increase in the price of housing for sale was recorded in Viana do Castelo, where it was 29.5%.