en 
Paulo Raimundo spoke at a public forum in Barreiro, in the district of Setúbal, about housing, as part of the party's national action under the theme “Increasing wages and pensions, for a better life”.
“If we want to solve the housing problem, we need to attack two things: first, the extraordinary and significant increase in wages, just as the PCP proposes, just as workers demand, and the second issue is to attack the speculation,” he said.
Blaming banks and real estate funds for housing speculation, the PCP secretary general said that there are thousands of people in distress in Portugal who are unable to pay their rent or house payments.
“The problem we have is not the lack of available housing, in fact, on one of these platforms that we can all consult, you can find more than 800 houses for sale here in Barreiro. The problem is not the lack of houses, the problem is the low wages that do not allow us to buy houses at the price they are,” he said.
In his speech, which was followed by four testimonies about his problems in dealing with housing prices in Barreiro, Paulo Raimundo said that “it is not possible to continue with a policy that gives even more space, more business and that feeds the banks”, accusing the Government to open business opportunities for those who “make a business out of misfortune”.
The communist leader gave as an example the measure of 100 percent coverage of mortgages for young people, which comes with the effort rate that prevents young people from accessing these loans.
“Half of our workforce, the vast majority of whom are young people, have precarious contracts. Precarious employment contracts mean precarious lives, instability, and difficulties in accessing housing. This is the reality, and that is why young people are struggling with this measure because they are unable to stay below the so-called effort rate,” he said.
Paulo Raimundo also criticised the land law, considering that this Government's solution of transforming rural land into urban land “is to increase speculation, even more”.
“There are 700,000 empty houses in our country, 700,000 houses that could and should be inhabited, there are many people who need them. Because what the Government does is the option it has, it is the same option as always: build, build, build, and when it is not possible to build on urban land, then go back to building on rustic land”, he said, adding that this measure “is yet another favour to real estate funds”.
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And this attitude/opinion is exactly why this problem exists! What an idiot. It is the lack of “affordable” housing that is the problem. Where do these people come from… can’t he see past the end of his nose? Of course this is quid pro quo. Low wages should equal low housing costs, but prices are artificially inflated by demands from investors and ex-pats, which is itself driven by tourism, tax breaks and the low cost of living (wages) which then suppress local development in any other sectors. No need for higher wages which take away from profits restrict investment and drive up ALL costs sequentially. The cycle continues! Then the politicians come along…
By Stuart Wood from Algarve on 28 Jan 2025, 10:06
From the title, I could already see that it was from someone who does not understand the basic concept of supply and demand. Once I saw that it was from PCP leader, it made sense since that party sticks to ideology and has no concept of economics. They lost all credibility when they supported Russia with the Ukraine war and their popularity in Portugal is at all time lows.
By David from Other on 28 Jan 2025, 10:44
The main problem is real estate speculation and lack of real estate transaction transparency. No way to determine what prices homes actually sell for and, therefore, accurate price comparisons are not possible before making an offer... and banks don't care because they require buyers to take out a life insurance policy to insure the mortgage
By Peter from Lisbon on 28 Jan 2025, 12:22
This must be the same thing in Canada, Irleand and UK - too low wages for Christ sake. In Lisbon wages are so low that you need a top managers salary to afford a small apartment.
By Adolfo from Lisbon on 28 Jan 2025, 12:26
This seems to be complex problem that cannot simply be resolved by increasing the min wage because of the knock on affect on whether it’s profitable for employers/businesses to absorb the extra labour cost ,or pass it on down the line or rather close down the business operation itself . Maybe , a possible solution is to increase the availability of existing properties on the market by finding a solution to numerous number of empty and abandoned properties due to deceased estates that are tied up in family inheritance disputes or in cases where the next of kin cannot be located. Maybe the government can set a time limit of 5 years in the case of those properties before they go on auction to the public. If it goes to auction, the balance , after the necessary deduction fees , can be distributed equally among the next of kin or if no next of kin is to be found , then it goes into some sort of government program to build low cost homes to be made available to sell to the public .
By Leon de vos from Algarve on 28 Jan 2025, 12:44
Absolutely with you on that Stuart - the government flogging its own country is at the root of the problem.
By Wes from Lisbon on 29 Jan 2025, 07:17
Wages may be low, but higher wages doesn't necessarily mean housing becomes more affordable. Here in the UK the banks have become ever more inventive at lending increased amounts for mortgages, and all it does is push up house prices. Most people have to borrow money to buy a house and everyone is competing in the same pool for a limited number of houses. Allow them all to borrow more and they will, resulting in higher offers and ultimately pushing up the price.
From what I've seen in Portugal it doesn't have a lack of housing. Everywhere I go I see buildings falling down next to well maintained properties. The problem seems to be twofold: the Napoleonic code that means property is inherited by all children; and rules that prevent older properties from being redeveloped into something more suited to today's market. After a couple of generations a house might be owned by ten people and getting all to agree on what to do with it can be difficult. And a row of small terrace houses might not appeal to the current market who might want more space, but you can't knock two together or alter them if they're more than 50 years old (as far as I've been told). So it's more attractive for developers to build from scratch on a new site than to renovate existing houses, but of course that's more expensive...
By David Higgon from UK on 29 Jan 2025, 09:17
That isn't the only problem. In the village where I live at least half of the houses are empty. Inherited by family who work and live elsewhere and have absolutely no intention of selling. It has become a ghost village with loads of empty houses.
By Martin from Lisbon on 29 Jan 2025, 09:28
Its the cost of housing that makes buying difficult not wage growth its the same with renting, the only solution is to free up property and cap price increases, lifting salaries will push property even higher. Tax investors to pay for social housing
By Mikey from Alentejo on 29 Jan 2025, 11:17