Of the new rooms in Lisbon, 70% are expected to come online this year, Simões said, at a presentation of a report on the sector's performance in 2016 and the outlook for 2017.

Simões noted a certain “euphoria around the market”, with exponential growth in demand from investors. That has pushed up prices, making closing deals more difficult, although investors remain interested - increasingly in locations other than prime areas of Lisbon.

Coimbra and Aveiro in particular are attracting interest, due to their notable shortage of upmarket hotel capacity for both leisure and business markets.

In the Lisbon market for residential property JLL reported transactions involving buyers of 43 nationalities, as compared with 26 in 2015. That, the consultants argued, means that the market is now firmly established in prospective buyers' minds.

Of 840 homes in new developments in Lisbon, they noted, 65% of buyers were foreign citizens, from countries as diverse as Brazil, France, China, South Africa, Lebanon and Turkey.