The real estate consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield estimates that investment in the sector in Portugal this year could reach 2.7 billion euros, up from 2.1 billion euros in 2021, with the help of hotel and logistics.

Eric van Leuven, general manager of Cushman & Wakefield in Portugal, told Lusa that "in the first half of the year, there was a great preponderance of investment in two asset classes that have never been so popular: hotels and logistics" and that represented "almost 90% of all institutional investment in real estate".

According to the same responsible, in the first semester there was an investment volume of more than 600 million Euros, but in July and August these values "almost doubled and there is 1.2 billion Euros of investment concluded in 2022".

Eric van Leuven also mentioned that, taking into account the announced deals, there is another 1.5 billion euros of investment in the pipeline until the end of the year, totaling 2.7 billion euros.

"The Portuguese market has been doing very well in the last six months, contrary to other European markets that have clearly suffered from the war, the uncertainty, the increase in costs, and the interest rate, which is very important in real estate," he stressed, warning, however, that this situation may change.

For 2023, the managing director of the consulting firm admitted that he is "a little more apprehensive.

"I think there is going to be a downturn in the real estate market in terms of volume and especially values. Right now investors don't really know where the price 'floor' is. In a quality investment it is more difficult to determine where the price is, so I believe there will be a slowdown in 2023, especially in the first half, but that's my view," he stressed, adding that "it depends a lot on the energy crisis or the war in Ukraine," among other factors.

But for now, he pointed out, "there is a lot of investment in sight" that the company is convinced "will materialize," and has not yet seen "situations like other colleagues in other countries where investors retract proposals" or reduce prices.

As for the residential area, Eric van Leuven said that "there is such a shortage of houses that it will not be for lack of demand that it will go into crisis."

"We may eventually be building houses that are not affordable for Portuguese people and that depend a lot on foreigners buying them," he said, noting that foreigners continue to choose Portugal as a place to live.

Eric van Leuven acknowledged that there is a problem "for the local population," but that "it is not for lack of interest from developers and builders to make houses for these strips," pointing to licensing problems, taxes, and other obstacles, which make projects more expensive.

"It's a problem that has to be solved at the political level," he remarked.