'Everything, at the same time, in different places'

With the housing crisis facing Portugal, like most European countries, our right-wing politics and many industry representatives are keen to defend the thesis that the problem is only a "housing shortage" and that we should simply build more. This leads to proposals such as lower taxes, simplified licensing procedures and increased financial support for the private sector.

When faced with the consequences of speculative demand for rising housing prices, which are inextricably linked to "turning housing into a business," as Sam Tsemberis (creator of the Housing First model) argues in his recent interview with Diário de Notícias, right-wing politicians and representatives of real estate and tourism''try to downplay these factors by claiming that they are of minor importance. That is, we need not look for the cause of the current crisis in the new demand associated with foreign investment and the growing popularity of short-term rentals and speculative demand.

The problem is that the simple thesis of a "housing shortage" is disingenuous. In fact, both in Portugal and in most European countries, the number of families and dwellings has barely changed in the last decade, while house prices have skyrocketed and moved away from the level of average family wages, which have frozen in place.

In Portugal, the number of dwellings and families increased by just 1.8% and 2.6% respectively between 2011 and 2021, while prices for''s also speculative transactions, we see the most significant values in these regions.

We are talking about the new demand for housing that has emerged over the last decade, especially since 2013, when house prices began to rise rapidly, moving away from household wages.