Demand for houses up to €324,000 soars by 67%

The online estate agency site idealista has published a study on the supply and demand of houses for sale following an exemption on IMT property transfer tax and stamp duty for young people 35 years of age or under coming into force.

The real estate portal’s analysis reveals that the demand for houses up to €324,000, which benefit from total exemption from IMT and IS, according to the site, rose 67% in Portugal last year, while supply fell 32%, to a total of 90,502 properties in the quarter to July.

In houses between €324,000 and €648,000, where there is partial exemption from the two taxes, the portal points out that demand grew 45% while supply fell 4%, with 81,096 properties available.

“A marginal rate of 8% minus the rebate portion (€25,924) applies,” says idealista about the IMI and IS exemption.

As for demand for housing up to €324,058 for young people, this increased across all large cities, with Coimbra and Leiria seeing interest doubling, while Lisbon and Porto saw demand skyrocket by 96% and 55% respectively,

idealista also states that in the supply of houses up to €324,000 there was a drop in most cities with the exception of Portalegre (+14%), with the biggest drops being registered in Lisbon (-50%), Setúbal and Coimbra (-41%), Porto (-14%).

idealista’s analysis also shows that the places where there are more houses up to €324,000 are Porto, Lisbon, Braga, Aveiro and Setúbal, with more than a thousand properties available.