Almost a sixth of mortgage loans in Portugal were granted to foreigners in 2022, reveal new data released by the Bank of Portugal (BdP) and reported by ECO. This is an increase compared to 2021, when 10.8% of the contracted amount went to citizens of other countries.

In total, 169,000 people took out a mortgage loan last year, 2,000 more than in 2021. Around 16,000 of these were foreign citizens, with the amount of credit they took out corresponding to 14% of the total amount, according to the BdP's new statistical indicator.

Looking at the amounts granted to foreigners, 20% went to citizens of Brazil, followed by the UK and the US.

It should be noted that this indicator considers not only mortgage loans, but also credit for housing works and for the acquisition of land for housing construction.

Looking at the total mortgage loans granted, the median contract value rose to 112 thousand euros last year, which compares with 100 thousand euros in 2021.

Almost two-thirds of mortgage loans granted in 2022 (61%) were contracted with people aged up to 40 years and almost a fifth was for people up to 30 years old. It should be noted that the new rules imposed by the BdP to limit the terms of housing loans according to age came into force at the end of March.

As for the region of residence, two out of three people who took out a mortgage loan resided in the North region and in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, indicates the central bank.