Non-EU house hunters lead overseas residential housing demand in Portugal

Overseas residents outside the European Union are now taking the lead in interest for property acquisitions in Portugal, according to the online estate agency platform Idealista.

In it’s recently published study ‘Overseas demand for houses to buy and rent in Portugal’ around 54% of the interest to buy property in Portugal was seen from non-EU citizens, rising to 63% for those intending to rent.

The nationalities leading the demand were Brazilians and US citizens looking to buy property in Portugal’s 15 main cities.

And in Ponta Delgado on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, that percentage interested in buying rose to 70%.

Meanwhile, non-EU house-hunters showed a high level of interest in the cities of Braga, Coimbra and Viseu. (64%).

Lisbon and Porto also concentrated the majority of demand to buy or rent with 60% for both cities.

In Faro, Portalegre, Guarda, Viana do Castelo and Braganza most of the overseas interest in both cases came from non-EU home hunters.

Property tax incentives for foreigners relocating to Portugal have undergone many changes in recent years, with the end of gold visa option for real estate investment, as well as changes to the former Non-Habitual Residents (RNH) regime by the the previous Socialist government of António Costa.

These changes initially had a negative impact on the demand for houses to buy by those living outside the European Union (EU) throughout 2023 and created instability and uncertainty throughout 2024 while interest from these non-EU citizens in homes for rent followed a similar pattern.

Despite the lack of stability in policies aimed at foreigners, the demand for housing by citizens living outside the EU has always been higher than the interest shown by those living in one of the EU countries during this period, both in buying a house and in renting (being more expressive in the latter case), as shown by the data from Idealista.

In December 2024, the NHR regime was replaced by the Tax Incentive for Scientific Research and Innovation (IFICI+).

But two months later, in March 2025 two key amendments were to the tax incentive: the application form and the list of qualified jobs. The deadline for registration on the Finance Portal is short, since foreigners have only until this Monday, March 31, to apply for IFICI+, after it was exceptionally extended (before the expected date was March 15, 2025).

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