Housing transactions in Portugal record lowest increase in the EU
The number of housing transactions increased by 0.5% in the first quarter in Portugal. It was the lowest increase among the 12 member states analysed by Eurostat.
After a 5% drop in the number of housing transactions in Portugal last year, the first quarter of 2021 registered a 0.5% increase in purchases. However, the growth recorded in Portugal was the lowest in the European Union (EU).
Last year, out of a total of 13 Member States analysed by Eurostat, only three saw the number of housing transactions increase: Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark. In the others, the scenario was of decreases, with Portugal registering a decline of around 5%, the seventh-lowest. Cyprus, Slovenia and Belgium suffered the biggest drops (over 15%).
“In 2020, the number of housing transactions decreased in several EU countries compared to 2019 despite a continued upwards trend in house prices,” Eurostat says, explaining that this drop in the number of transactions “comes after an increase in nearly all of those countries in 2019 compared to 2018.”
For the European statistics office, “the drop in the number of transactions can be linked to COVID-19 lockdown measures, in particular in the second quarter of 2020, which included a temporary suspension of real estate activity.”
But at the beginning of this year, the scenario improved. Portugal went from negative to positive, with a 0.5% increase in the number of transactions compared to the first quarter of last year. However, despite this improvement, it represented the lowest growth of the 12 member states analysed by Eurostat. Belgium (+26.1%), Denmark (47.5%) and France (54.1%) had the largest growth rates.
The largest decreases in the number of transactions in 2020 were recorded in Cyprus (-23.3%), Slovenia (-17.5%), Belgium (-17.4%) and Ireland (-16.4%). Three countries registered an increase in the number of housing transactions: Finland (+7.7%), the Netherlands (+10.0%) and Denmark (+20.1%).
