March 26, 2024
Over the last couple of years, real estate agencies all over Portugal have noticed a new client demand from overseas searching for a new home here, away from the United States. Typically this interest has surged from homeowners in the American Eastern and Western coasts widely due to Portugal’s serene western location resembling their lifestyle. Many are now looking atPortugal’s Golden Visa programand the various options including fund products and real estate solutions.
The surge in interest to relocate and start a new life in Europe, specifically Portugal peaked for American home owners, over the second half of 2022. The estimated investment of American buyers in Portugal has tripled since 2021, totaling an amount of 25.1M euros to date, according to the Portuguese Service of Foreign Immigration.
The decision of relocating across the Atlantic for some Americans stems from an increasingly polarized political system, rising safety concerns, an ineffective healthcare system, destructive floods and wildfires and surging living and housing costs.
The Unique Resemblance Between The Portuguese And American Coasts
With more than 800km of serene costal areas, Portugal offers all year round fresh ocean breezes, a Mediterranean climate surrounded by fauna and flora alike, warm and sunny winter days filled with magical sunsets.
As buyers settle in the northern region of Portugal, typically around the city of Porto, you can expect cooler and cloudier climate, comparable to that of San Francisco and San José and only a 30 minute drive away, homeowners can find a Napa Valley resembling wine region known as the Douro Valley.
Further south towards the region of Lisbon, residents may find brighter and more sunny days as well as a warmer climate. As with the Californian coast, all throughout Portugal many are the water sports enthusiasts. Ericeira and Nazaré are home to some of the world record breaking big waves and house a growing community of digital nomads. Alongside the capital of Lisbon, has an incredibly similar bridge to that of the Golden Gate Bridge, known as “Ponte 25 de Abril”, which is painted in a very similar shade of red.
In the past year, since changes were made to the Golden Visa scheme in 2021, many buyers have started exploring the surrounding areas of Lisbon, such as Cascais, Oeiras, Sintra, Tróia and Comporta. Under an hour away from the capital, with various public transport available, these stunning areas have been greatly compared to Santa Barbara and Palm Springs, offering stunning marinas, mountainous greenery, serene beaches and unspoiled fields of pasture.
All of this has positively affected the Portuguese real estate sector, which has already proved its resilience and attractiveness, facing, with distinction, different economic cycles over the last two decades and showing that it has the ability to reinvent itself. This bodes well for real estate investors adopting a medium to long term view and looking for good projects with upside such as Saratoga’sAlta do Juncalproject in Porto.
Saratoga Capital Partnersis a private equity and alternative asset management group. The partnership was founded in 2008, and was initially purposed as a mergers and acquisitions advisory and capital raising boutique. We focus on special situations, unlocking deep value from substantially underpriced assets or opportunities. We seek to maximize investor value and return whilst at the same time providing opportunity for our portfolio companies and their respective stakeholders.
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