Welcome to our first newsletter of 2022! We hope you have all had a great start to the year and are looking forward to the year ahead. We are pleased to confirm that last year was another “Best Year Yet” at the Mortgage Direct headquarters and we now have 5 mortgage advisers operating in this market. Our enquiries rose by 66% on 2020, and the average mortgage size rose by 30% to €205,192. This is very encouraging given the ongoing pandemic and we expect these figures to continue this year. This increased activity seems to be driven by clients wanting a lifestyle change and investors seeing Portugal as a hot spot compared to other countries. Borrowing continues to be cheap and there are tax advantages to buying in Portugal over countries like Spain, which is also a popular destination.
Now has never been a better time to buy with a mortgage. Fixed and variable interest rates remain incredibly low (rates from Euribor +1.2% for foreign buyers) and prices are still very reasonable. Having said this, a number of agents we have spoken with say that demand exceeds supply and this is having a big impact on prices. It’s certainly not uncommon to see clients fighting for the same property and paying the full asking price.
In 2021, 58% of our clients bought for holiday use, 29% for their main residence and 10% for investment purposes. We certainly see 2022 being another record for us as more clients take the plunge to buy in Portugal.