Creative Economy
-Property Business in Lisbon
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Lisbon has gone through a ruff time with its economic system and the financial crisis, but in the latest years it has created a successful outbreak for this issue through many different tourist attractions also including the business of property sales.
‘As Portugal begins to emerge from the financial crisis of the past seven years, some investors believe acquiring property in Lisbon is one way to realise that ambition.’ Says Trish Lorenz in year 2014.
“The property market in Lisbon only started to develop a buzz in 2014, but it’s in the last six months that we’ve seen a big rise in numbers of investors,” says Roman Carel, Athena’s founder. According to the company’s own research, prices in prime locations in Lisbon rose 22 per cent in 2015, while inquiries jumped 30 per cent in the first quarter of this year. (May 13, 2016)
Researching the development of property sales in Lisbon the main attraction for sales is the art of the newly renovated houses/ apartments and the NHR programme.
‘The appetite for rejuvenation has affected the residential market. Period homes that had been abandoned and were crumbling away as wealthy Portuguese moved into modern houses with better facilities in suburbs, such as Estoril and Cascais, are now among the most sought after in the capital.’
When mentioning the NHR that stands for tax-friendly non-habitual residents programme local agents say that that brings the interest for buyers based in Western Europe. As it offers people who are moving to the country for the first time reduced tax rates or tax exemption for 10 years on certain income. The unfortunate turn for this matter is that the interest is mainly only in the city centre, but not in the outer areas, and even though unemployment is falling it still remains high.
“As a capital city, Lisbon is an anomaly in Europe,” says Arthur Moreno, co-founder of Stone Capital, which buys and refurbishes old buildings in prime locations. “It has many beautiful buildings in the centre that are in very poor condition. But the prime real estate market here is changing fast.”
The most attractive part of these newly refurbished buildings is the art of them and how the use of tiles has created a type of recognition and stamp on the city all together. Even though tiles have been used for a long time in Portugal overall the use of them in the refurbishing projects in Lisbon is a huge impact to the sales rise.
‘Azulejos, the brightly glazed ceramic tiles first brought to Portugal in the 16th century by the Moors, originally only decorated palaces. But they were cheaper than stone. After the year 1775 earthquake, demand for cost-effective materials rose rapidly and Lisbon quickly became a radiant mosaic.’
Knowing that the tiles and mosaics are the main attractions for tourists it is only smart for property designers to refurbish spaces in such colourful aesthetics as that surely would increase interest just as the NHR it is a attractive concept.
https://www.ft.com/content/06e17466-1220-11e6-91da-096d89bd2173
http://infed.org/mobi/post-modernism-and-post-modernity/
https://www.ft.com/content/82d5f7b2-5a67-11e4-8771-00144feab7de
http://businessculture.org/southern-europe/business-culture-in-portugal/#ct
http://businessculture.org/southern-europe/business-culture-in-portugal/
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