The number of houses for sale in Portugal declined by 38.6% within a decade, according to new data published by Confidencial Imobiliário based on the Residential Information System.

In Q2, just over 58,000 properties were on the market throughout the country, yet at the end of 2014, there were close to 95,000

Since then, housing stock has been in decline, in particular from 2018 until June, The Portugal News reports.

The figures reveal a trend in the country, according to an analysis by Confidencial Imobiliário director Ricardo Guimarães and “they highlight a lack of supply,” which has led to “increased demand in a context of low levels of new construction.”

There are numerous factors leading to this rise in demand for housing. According to the 2021 Census, there was a substantial increase in single-parent families in Portugal.

During that year, 579,971 households, including a mother or father and children, were registered, a 20.7% rise compared to 2011. In addition, since 2015, there has been a rise in the movement of foreigners residing in the country.

“In the last decade, there has been a degradation in the state of conservation of the building stock, a disinvestment by the State in housing and a slowdown in private investment,” stated Manuel Reis Campos, president of AICCOPN (the association representing the construction industry). 

“On average yearly around 15 thousand homes were licensed, a number that compares with the 68 thousand registered in the previous decade.”

The association leader added that the current lack of housing supply in Portugal is not a cyclical problem anymore; “it is rather a structural problem,” he stated.