Portugal Property Market Rebound!

After official figures revealed a fortnight ago that the Portuguese economy had emerged from a year-long recession, comes yet another sign that the country, despite constant claims to the contrary by experts, is firmly on the road to recovery. Latest evidence of the country side-stepping what many 'experts' predicted would be a real estate crash, comes from the respected Global Property Guide. In its latest report published this week, it says that Portugal is one of only seven countries in the world to report increases in house prices for the second quarter of the year, while the building industry reported double-digit growth.

After a dismal end to last year and an even worse start to 2009, the Global Property Guide this week said that Portugal, along with a handful of other countries, had emerged from the house price slump. This comes despite the fact that most countries suffered sharp house price falls from last year to the end of the second quarter of 2009, meaning the general situation across the globe remains negative. The Global Property Guide explains it uses price-changes after inflation, thereby attempting to give a more realistic picture than the (more upbeat) nominal figures usually preferred by real estate agents.

After experiencing declines in 2008, house prices in Portugal, China, Australia, New Zealand, France, Sweden and Hong Kong rebounded during the latest reported quarter, Q2 2009.These seven countries joined Israel, Switzerland, Indonesia and Norway (countries which recovered faster, that is, before Q2 2009) in the list of countries in recovery. Average house prices in the Algarve, Portugal, at 1429 euros per square metre, were up by two percent during Q2 2009.House prices in Portugal as a whole rose 1.01 percent during Q2, and were down only 0.43 percent on the year to end-Q2 2009, compared to -7.24 percent during the year to end-Q2 2008. New construction orders in Portugal increased by a staggering 12.3 percent during Q2 2009.

In a related story, it has been revealed that property in Portugal remains the number one most searched for destination by Britons to buy a home abroad based on country page views, and property views, on homesoverseas.co.uk.Portugal property enquiries have increased month-on-month since the beginning of 2009, having started the year as the fourth most searched for destination to buy a property overseas.

The website states that "in spite of the global economic downturn, enquiries for properties overseas for sale remain firm," confirming the desire amongst Britons to own a home abroad remains as popular as ever. Explaining the shift towards Portugal by Britons looking to purchase a home abroad , homesoverseas.co.uk said that Spain's woes, such as a string of property scandals, corruption, oversupply of housing, and dodgy legislation, such as Valencia's land grab law - has led people to look for property in neighbouring Portugal.

Article Source: The Portugal News 05/09/2009