Buyers mainly from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and France put in the most requests for housing credit during the second quarter of this year. And, as expected, Lisbon, Porto, and Faro gathered more than half of the loan requests to buy a house in this period, reveals the quarterly report from idealista/créditohabitação.
In general, between April and June, non-residents applied for housing loans for an average value of 171,541 euros (+15.8% compared to a year ago) to buy houses for an average of 214,784 euros (+4.5%). Families that requested credit had an average income of 8.4% higher (of 5,522 euros) and requested higher percentages of financing from banks (of 78%, on average, against 74% in the second quarter of 2023).
It was in the Lisbon district that the largest number of housing loan requests from foreigners and emigrants came together in the second quarter of the year (21.6% of the total). Right behind is Faro (16.4%), Porto (12.7%) and Setúbal (8.5%). Completing the top 5 is Santarém with 5.4% of requests.
The districts and islands that recorded the lowest number of home loan applications by non-residents were: Pico Island (Azores), Évora, and Portalegre, data from the idealista/créditohabitação quarterly report show.
Where are buyers coming from?
Foreigners looking for housing loans in Portugal come from different parts of the world. In the second quarter of this year, citizens residing in the United Kingdom requested the most loans (18.5% of the total), followed by those residing in Switzerland (14.2%), France (12.4%) and Brazil ( 11.3%).
“Proponents from the United States [which represented 5.1% of total requests] stand out with an average household income of 8,526 euros”, the highest of all countries of origin analysed, indicates the document. And they are also those who intend to buy houses at higher prices (245,818 euros, on average), although with one of the lowest percentages of financing (77%).
Those who requested the highest value housing loans were citizens living in Ireland (which represented 3.2% of total requests). Residents of Ireland requested bank loans in the country worth 218,224 euros in the second quarter, to buy a house for an average value of 238,180 euros, with 78% financing.