en 
There is new controversy surrounding the golden visa programme I Portugal with the Economic and Social Council (CES) defending the end of the programme, which changed its rules at the beginning of the year, claiming that it is contributing to the decrease in the birth rate.
This claim has been made according to the CES because it causes a kind of snowball effect, that is, house prices rise and young adults are unable to leave their parents' house, thus not being able to start a family. For the Portuguese Association of Real Estate Developers and Investors (APPII), this is a non-issue, as the “birth rate drop has nothing to do with this type of programme”.
Cited by Público, sociologist Ana Drago, who coordinated the opinion approved by the CES plenary, said that “Portugal is experiencing increases in housing prices above any of the eurozone economies and is, in a group of more than 40 countries, among those with the highest ratio between price and income, that is, where prices are furthest from the average income”.
“This shows that these prices are responding to a demand that has nothing to do with residents, but with foreigners, namely through golden visas and tax benefits granted to non-habitual residents. We know that the housing market sector has focused on the so-called luxury renovation and tourist accommodation and especially in metropolitan areas and this has created added difficulties for young couples”, added the official.
Opposing view
In response, the APPII considers that “these issues are not related at all” and that “it was not the golden visa programme that inflated the price of housing”.
“The price of housing will continue to worsen, with or without this type of programme, as we continue without truly solving the main reasons that lead to the increase in property prices”, the association said in a statement, enumerating some reasons that have contributed to the rise in prices – namely the fact that legislation is inadequate and obsolete, that taxation is high, that there are few buildings or land at prices compatible with the construction of affordable housing and that there are still delays in licensing.
The APPII adds that “the places where housing prices rose the most were precisely where there is no record of acquisitions for the Golden Visa programme, such as Aveiro, Amadora, Viana do Castelo, etc.”
In conclusion, the entity chaired by Hugo Santos Ferreira states that “the drop in birth rates has nothing to do with this type of programme”, young people postpone leaving their parents' house more and more for other reasons”.
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People love to cry about the Golden Visa and foreign investment, but in my experience, there have been plenty of greedy Portuguese landlords ready, willing, and able to gouge renters. It took a global pandemic to get them to *slightly* lower the rent. Good luck to anyone coming to Lisbon or Porto to study and expecting not to be bled dry.
By T. from Algarve on 22 Jan 2022, 20:30
All of the Golden Visa program participants, ever, could fit into a single large apartment building. They have a negligible impact on the housing market. D7 visa holders, refugees, and citizens of other Schengen countries vastly outnumber Golden Visa holders (and I welcome them with open arms, especially given that Portugal's population is shrinking). Eliminating the golden visa program would have no impact on the housing market. Residential real estate in Lisbon, Porto, and other coastal areas isn't even eligible for golden visa qualification, as of 2022-01-01, and golden visa applicants are largely shifting to investment funds or commercial real estate.
If these leftist/nativist agitators really wanted to solve the housing affordability problem, they would lobby for reducing barriers to housing construction and rehabilitation. It takes years, and great expense, to navigate the permitting bureaucracy, and that drives up prices for future residents without yielding any benefit at all. It would be one thing if this compliance process yielded comfortable, efficient, delightful housing, but it seems like water leaks, moldy walls, chilly rooms, and sewer fumes are the norm.
By Nevadifornia from USA on 22 Jan 2022, 23:28
Young workers leave Portugal for better opportunities, especially well educated youngsters with transportable skills, for example a the third of the number of nurses trained each year '...are either going to Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, even the United Kingdom – all of which pay a great deal more than the Portuguese SNS.' according to a report in the Ressie.
Most countries have high living costs in their centres of economic activity, so it ever was, and those who are willing and able often find improvement, good incomes and opportunities in countries other than their own.
I find it unlikely that the impact of Golden Visa buyers is relevant to the lower sector of the property market nor that is has affected the country's birth rate.
By Paul Rees from Lisbon on 23 Jan 2022, 09:46
The statement that Português property has increased fastest in the Europe is just untrue. Prices went up everywhere due to relentless money printing by Central banks everywhere and this caused a flight to capital (and inflation!) into the realestate markets.
On a second note: The golden visa properties are a different type of properties, often costing 3 million eur or more. Who can afford prices like that? I don't think a young family will be able to afford such a villa anyway.
What the Portuguese property market needs is affordable housing with a clause that prohibits rental as airbnb for at least 20 years (or forever) and a requirement for the buyer of that property to actually live in their house. Too many hobby hotels (airbnb ugh) ruin the rental and sales market in my opinion. There are enough hotels, let holiday makers rent a hotel instead and limit the amount of AL accommodations.
By MARTIN from Algarve on 23 Jan 2022, 13:30
So we are really expected to believe that Cascais is in the world's Top 100 in terms of housing costs, and this is nothing to do with Portugal until recently offering a Golden Visa to anyone who invests €500k in property? Please, we weren't all born yesterday!
By Paul Hodges from Lisbon on 24 Jan 2022, 11:08
I moved to Lisbon to work, I was working as (chinese) translator real estate agent assistant and I saw with my own eyes the housing prices escalating in Lisbon, and rents too. The housing prices in Lisbon and Porto are so so expensive because everyone who has capital to invest wants a piece of it, so agents, real estate companies, construction companies take advantage of this; there are so many companies taking advantage of the Golden Visa for a quick buck. Anyone who says the Golden Visa didn't increase the housing prices is an hypocrite. And youngsters like me need to move to other countries because it's impossible to afford a house in Portugal now.
By Ricardo Caetano from Other on 24 Jan 2022, 13:40
And of course the ludicrous situations with regard to inheritance laws and rent controlled apartments aren't having any impact ? Yeah, right... How many apartments in Lisbon are boarded up and slowly mouldering into nothingness because 1 inheritor has the power to hold up its future, and likewise 1 last tenant is holding up the re-purposing of an otherwise empty apartment block ! Must be hundreds of these properties in Lisbon and elsewhere - wasted accommodation otherwise causing scarcity...
By Prinz Eugen from Lisbon on 24 Jan 2022, 23:07
Escalating real estate prices is influenced by a number of factors, as is the birth rate. it’s simplistic to attribute one cause only for a drop in birth rate, as well as one cause only for the rise of real estate prices. If until the recent past, Portugal had a depressed economy where land and property were devalued compared to most of Europe, than in the 10 years, circumstances were such that the two urban hubs had accelerated appreciation of real estate values, coming up to where most of Europe has been. It was overdue. I became a legal resident almost 4 years ago via the Golden Visa program. I invested in a coastal resort hotel that needed major rehabilitation. This is a hotel, not a B&B and not a house. but I do agree with the negative affects of short term rentals on the housing stock . They’ve made laws in California restricting the number of houses that can converted to short-term vacation rentals.
Coming from the perspective of a visitor or tourist, since arriving last summer, i’ve secured relatively short term accommodations (1 to 3 months) through Airbnb, I found the experiences seriously inferior to staying at a hotel, and just as expensive. The main reason is you’re paying a commensurate daily rate in a short term rental ad a hotel, but get none of the amenities, and especially no hospitality that you find in a hotel. Why? Because they aren’t truly B&Bs, ( No breakfast) & “Hosts” are landlords with rigid rules and limits and haggling when you have a problem. My experiences over three properties was Disappointing to intolerable, and on two occasions I had to leave the B&B And check into a hotel which offer service. Shocking!
By Patrick Ohearn from Algarve on 26 Jan 2022, 00:57