Desk Report: Searching for houses by foreigners Freepik | Google Maps Vanessa Sousa Vanessa Sousa March 31, 2025, 9:11 From Europe or other corners of the world to Portugal. Many foreigners arrive in our country every year with the intention of buying or renting a house, seeking to improve their quality of life or a profitable investment. And although there are fewer tax incentives available for this type of real estate client profile, it is those who live outside European borders who are most interested in packing their bags and moving to Portugal, according to the most recent data from idealista/data.

The demand for housing in Portugal by citizens living outside the EU continues to be higher than from those living in one of the EU countries, both in terms of buying a house and renting (being more expressive in the latter case), according to data from idealista/data.

There was also a slight increase in interest from non-EU citizens in homes to buy and rent in Portugal towards the end of 2024 (to 54% and 63.8% of total international demand, respectively), although it is still far from the values ​​recorded at the end of 2022, before changes to tax benefits for foreigners came into force.

Around this time (in December of last year), the long-awaited ordinance that regulated the Tax Incentive for Scientific Research and Innovation (IFICI+), the replacement for the old NR regime, was published in the Official Gazette.

International demand

Foreigners living outside the EU - such as Brazilians or North Americans, for example - lead the search for houses for sale in Portugal in 15 major cities. In Ponta Delgada, in the Azores, seven out of every 10 foreigners who are interested in buying a house in our country live outside European borders. The proportion of international visits beyond the community space is also higher than 64% in Braga, Coimbra and Viseu.

Most of the international demand for houses to buy in Porto also came from outside the EU (60.4%), as well as in Lisbon (60.2%), according to the same data from idealista/data for the last quarter of 2024. In Faro, Portalegre, Guarda, Viana do Castelo and Bragança, foreigners living in EU countries were the ones who most looked for houses to buy in Portugal.

Last year, there was an increase in demand for houses to buy by residents outside the EU in 11 municipalities, as was the case in Bragança, Porto, Funchal and Lisbon. The evolution of their interest remained practically unchanged in five large cities (Braga, Setúbal, Santarém, Vila Real and Viseu). And it fell in Guarda, Leiria, Ponta Delgada and Castelo Branco.

Practically all 20 Portuguese district capitals have a demand for houses to rent by foreigners outside the EU that is much higher than the interest aroused by those living within these borders – the only exception is Funchal, on the island of Madeira (47.8%).

Viseu is the major city where foreigners outside the European Community predominate in demand in the housing rental market (80.2%), followed by Braga (78.2%) and Leiria (75.1%). Also in Porto (65.7%), Lisbon (59.8%) and Faro (56.3%) these families dominate demand.

In the last year, demand for houses to rent by foreigners outside the EU grew in 11 municipalities, with Portalegre, Faro and Funchal leading the increases. On the other hand, this indicator stabilized in Aveiro and fell in eight municipalities (Guarda, Castelo Branco, Santarém, Viseu, Leiria, Bragança, Beja and Viana do Castelo).

Biniyougbarta/sam//