It was a pleasure speaking with the Head of Residential, Patricia Barão, from JLL Portugal, in which her sales department is a team of 190 people. Their friendly team is located in seven offices across Portugal which includes “Porto, Lisbon, Cascais, Oeiras, Comporta, and two offices in the Algarve, which are in Quinta do Lago and Vilamoura.”

“JLL are the market leaders in enterprise consultancy” Patricia told The Portugal News, adding that “In other words, what I mean by this, is that, it is the company that has the most investments in its portfolio.”

JLL work in the medium-high to high segments of the real estate market, with their average transaction being around 800,000 euros, in which they work with both national and international markets, “in terms of our clients, the split is 55 percent being Portuguese and 45 percent being expats.”


Patricia told The Portugal News what makes the company unique among competitors is “The quality of the service we provide, our purpose is to satisfy the expectations of our clients, so we have an additional concern which is ensuring that our clients have the best possible service through our market intelligence, market knowledge, along with all the innovative tools to provide this service, which allows us to be one step ahead of our competition.”

Sustainability

One of the company’s core philosophies is sustainability, “We believe that real estate needs to lower its ecological footprint, the real estate market is in fact responsible for roughly 30 percent of carbon emissions. Therefore, our mission is to reach zero carbon emissions, and we at least want to reduce this impact through our construction materials and by influencing our clients to choose houses that are energy efficient. Our objective is to follow environmental, social, and governance criteria, which means promoting more sustainable buildings and construction that has less of an environmental impact.”


American Buyers Soar

Patricia revealed to The Portugal News that their number one expat client are North Americans. “Undoubtedly, more Americans are moving to Portugal, in the context of nationalities, a lot is changing. I spent five days in the United States, and I noted the interest of Americans in Portugal is greater than it was a year ago. I would say Portugal is very much on the radar of North Americans.”

Additionally, “There are a lot of Americans who want to move here with their families because they find in Portugal what they do not have in the United States.” Those reasons include “A very high quality of life, safety, a much lower cost of living, international schools, affordable health care, and also because there are some similarities, such as parts of Portugal being compared with California. The truth is that Americans are really discovering Portugal.”

When asked what Americans are looking for, Patricia explained that “They buy homes with higher values and are primarily looking for modern family homes, which is something JLL can help families find.” Patricia added that “From our data, the percentage of American residents in Portugal has increased by 45 percent in the last year, which is incredible.”

Thinking of buying a house in Portugal?

Patricia told The Portugal News that “Now is an excellent opportunity to invest in real estate as well as those wanting to purchase a home.” Adding that, “The new interest rate conditions and inflation means families will have to redo their financial plans in line with this new reality, but it is a good time for those who have some savings.”

“Using your savings to have a return investment through real estate is more positive than having your money devalue in the bank. JLL is fully equipped to give you expert advice when it comes to investing.”


Looking to the future

Patricia affirmed that JLL’s goal is to continue to grow. “We will always expand in locations, where the demand is growing. Within the Algarve, we plan to have additional offices next year, as the Algarve has been growing in demand.

For further information please call +351 213 121 520 or visit https://residential.jll.pt/

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes