Since the beginning of 2022, I have held the 1st place in the Top National Individual of Keller Williams Portugal, in terms of accumulated turnover, among more than 2,600 KW Portugal consultants.
There is no better way to start the year and 2022 is being a good year for real estate , despite the Ukrainian war that added to the 2 years of the pandemic and brought new obstacles and new challenges. But this is a reality with which the sector has become accustomed to dealing with. Nothing is easy, everything is conquered with a lot of difficulty and a lot of work.
The consequences of the war are still in their infancy, but their effects can already be guessed: inflation and rising interest rates.
Inflation has a strong impact on the construction of new homes and the renovation of used homes . The sale prices of new homes, sold in the project, are already reflecting this increase and it is not foreseeable that inflation will stop or come to attenuate, not least because the successive embargoes against Russia have this consequence. Steel, concrete, glass and wood are the most punished materials. Since August 2021, the inflation of these and other components has brought successive upward revisions, contributing to many developers deciding to postpone the start of new projects , or alternatively to reflect these increases in sales prices.
With regard to the number of used properties that were put up for sale, in the greater Lisbon metropolitan area and during the first quarter of 2022, I estimate a drop of around 40% compared to the year before the pandemic (2019). On the other hand, even due to the restrictions imposed on the local accommodation sector, the market for used homes is shrinking.
The impact of the increase in interest rates on mortgage loans is already being felt , the Euribor rate continues its upward trajectory, in anticipation of the foreseeable increase in the ECB's key rates, to new highs that have not been recorded since 2015.
A new fact that has further shuffled real estate mediation was the arrival of iBuyers, which are trying to replace classic real estate brokers, thanks to the investment funds and capital made available to them.
However, despite this bad news, not everything is black. The real estate market continues to receive good indications , both in terms of the number of transactions and the interest shown by foreign buyers and expatriates . As new real estate projects emerge, apartments sell themselves like "hot buns". Portugal continues to be a safe haven for those looking for a country far from the war, but inserted in the European space and real estate investment an even safer haven in the face of the losses that are foreseen in other economic sectors.
In other words, as Brazilians say: "go ahead, people come behind", to stop is to die and we real estate consultants are used to tread difficult paths and manage to reach a good port!
I am very grateful for this award and confident in the future!