4 ms·

I spoke to a real estate agent about the housing problem. And it’s not an obvious one. And one very few ever talk about. The problem is that most builders need

by moltar 3y ago

I spoke to a real estate agent about the housing problem. And it’s not an obvious one. And one very few ever talk about. The problem is that most builders need to borrow money from the bank for a project. But the government red tape can take from 1-3 years. Plus the building phase can be 1-2 years. So a total of 2-5 years. Builders cannot property plan project schedule, finance schedule and are feeling excessive risk. Most builders are simply not interested in taking this risk and thus not much is done. Another major issue the government of Portugal won’t tell you about is the fact that they own a ton of units downtown Lisbon in a completely decrepit state and aren’t doing anything about that. It’s easy to blame nomads though…

somewhereoutth 3y ago
Lisbon has been full of skycranes ever since I got here (some 7 years ago). Porto has even more! There has been a huge amount of renovation and development, but yes I dare say there could be more without red tape. Apparently one issue with Portugal is that inheritance is split between children, so properties end up with multiple owners who cannot agree on sale etc. Tourism has been a big driver of renovation (it is hard to argue with 100+euro/person/night yield), but of course that has necessitated evicting students and other 'itinerant' residents. Hence the recent protests.
seydor 3y ago
does portugal need more buildings since their population is going down? Is there not available inventory at all, or is it another case of many houses sitting empty? Also, hopefully the airbnBust will come to europe next year , i feel the airbnb meme is way overdone
- quonn 3y ago
  It is not sustainable to have declining population numbers for many reasons (for example the social security system needs a large working population) so Portugal is working to have immigration, especially from Brasil, Angola and also from Europe. Additionally while the population is declining across the country but rising in the Lisbon area where the problem is and where the jobs are.

by moltar 3y ago

somewhereoutth 3y ago

Lisbon has been full of skycranes ever since I got here (some 7 years ago). Porto has even more! There has been a huge amount of renovation and development, but yes I dare say there could be more without red tape. Apparently one issue with Portugal is that inheritance is split between children, so properties end up with multiple owners who cannot agree on sale etc. Tourism has been a big driver of renovation (it is hard to argue with 100+euro/person/night yield), but of course that has necessitated evicting students and other 'itinerant' residents. Hence the recent protests.

seydor 3y ago

does portugal need more buildings since their population is going down? Is there not available inventory at all, or is it another case of many houses sitting empty? Also, hopefully the airbnBust will come to europe next year , i feel the airbnb meme is way overdone

quonn 3y ago
It is not sustainable to have declining population numbers for many reasons (for example the social security system needs a large working population) so Portugal is working to have immigration, especially from Brasil, Angola and also from Europe. Additionally while the population is declining across the country but rising in the Lisbon area where the problem is and where the jobs are.