According to Maria Empis, who heads the JLL consultancy research department, “as new stock comes up, it will balance the over inflated prices of resale homes”.


The “too high” prices in second-hand homes are currently justified by supply and demand, so it is now expected that the “impact of the new supply will be felt in resale property prices”, according to the expert, who indicated that prices will continue to grow, but less rapidly.


During 2018 real estate transactions in Portugal exceeded some 30 billion euros thanks to supply limitations, however JLL anticipate that the record figures registered last year will not be repeated in 2019.


Meanwhile, other external uncertainties, such as Brexit, are also expected to affect the Portuguese real estate sector. Patrícia Barão, who heads the residential sector, said that the effects of Brexit have been felt more by some real estate developers, who are choosing to wait to avoid the exchange effect.


In related news, it has once again been confirmed that Algarve and Lisbon house prices are above the national average.
House prices in 42 municipalities in Portugal have been found to be above the national average, with the majority of these areas being in the Algarve and Lisbon.


According to the National Statistics Institute (INE) the median price for a family home in Portugal was 984 euros per square metre during the third quarter of 2018, representing an increase of 1.5 percent in comparison to the previous quarter.


While real estate averages in Portugal remain below the thousand euro mark, property in the Algarve, Lisbon and Madeira areas are far higher.


INE data found that during the third quarter of 2018 average property prices were at €1,500/m2 in the Algarve, at €1,318/m2 in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and at €1,203/m2 in Madeira.


While the Algarve, Lisbon and Madeira were found to have the highest prices for real estate there were large differences in each of these areas.


The most expensive areas of the country to buy in were found to be in the municipalities of Cascais (€2,167/m2), Oeiras (€1,878/m2), Loulé (€1,870/m2), Lagos (€1,755/m2), Albufeira (€1,683/ m2), Tavira (€1,630/m2) and Porto (€1,525/ m2).


Not everywhere in Portugal is as expensive as the Algarve, Lisbon and Madeira and the INE found that the lowest average house prices for new and existing houses sold were recorded in Alto Alentejo, €595/m2 and €423/m2 respectively, according to INE.