Rise in house prices slows down in 2020. Moody’s sees increase of 4%
The financial rating agency forecasts a 4% rise in house prices in Portugal. Prices are rising again, but the pace is much weaker than in recent years.
Houses will become even more expensive next year, although the rise in prices is not as sharp as in recent years. Who says so is the financial rating agency Moody’s, which predicts a 4% increase in house prices in 2020. Portugal is among the five countries where house prices will rise the most.
Data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) show that, in the first half of the year, house prices rose 10.1% over the same period last year, this after having increased 10.3% in 2018.
Just last year, Moody’s predicted a growth between 7% and 8% in house prices but now, after 12 months, the agency revises downwards this estimate. For 2020, is expected to increase by only 4% in the residential sector. “A sharp rise in the price of housing, although lower than in recent years,” says the report.
Still for the country, Moody’s supports its forecast of rising prices in consumer confidence, which “will remain robust”, while anticipating that GDP should grow by 1.7%. The unemployment rate will “fall slightly” and is expected to fall to 6%. However, it says that there will be “some fall in housing loans,” which may help explain the slowdown in the rise in prices.
Among the European countries where prices will rise the most, Spain appears at the top of the list, with an expected increase of 5.5%, ahead of Ireland (4.5%), Holland (4.5%) and Germany (4%). The lowest rises will happen in France (2.5%) and the United Kingdom (0.7%). In Italy, for its part, Moody’s forecasts that prices will remain at the same level.
