Ricardo Guimarães, director of Confidencial Imobiliário (Ci), believes that after an appreciation of 18% in 2022, next year will see some softening in the evolution of prices, accompanied by a possible reduction in the number of transactions.

"It seems clear to me that in a context of greater constraints on purchasing power, there is pressure for price stabilization", said the head of Ci to Lusa, putting "aside" a scenario of falling prices.

Looking at the various segments of the market, the president of the Association of Real Estate Professionals and Companies in Portugal (APEMIP), Paulo Caiado, considers that areas that have registered very expressive valuations in recent years may experience some stabilization in the coming months, while anticipating that in the municipalities around the large urban centres, which until now had not had much demand, there will be a contrary trend, with an increase.

Movements that lead him to prove convinced that "globally for 2023" the "price of real estate will not go down".

In a written response to Lusa, Rui Torgal, executive president (CEO) of ERA Portugal also states that he believes that in 2023 there will not be "a galloping growth in house prices like the one that has happened in recent times". However, he specifies that there will also not be, "with all certainty, an abrupt break".

"Predictably we are going to see a rise in prices in municipalities that until now have not been so pressured", says Paulo Caiado in an analysis of this geographic dimension of the market, resulting from the demand for other locations.

Remembering that increasing the offer of the real estate product is a process that takes time, Ricardo Guimarães points out that "without the capacity to generate quick supply, the increase in demand in these places is increasing prices". In addition, "much of the appreciation we see today comes from these markets", he stresses.

In view of the current context of rising interest rates, Rui Torgal believes that there may be some retraction or postponement of intentions to buy a house, with people turning to renting.

An opinion shared by Ricardo Guimarães, from Ci, with both anticipating that people's lives will not be easier in terms of prices, since they do not expect that the prices charged will fall.

"It is likely that we will have an increase in demand and this will end up having an additional pressure effect on the price of rents, which would already have a natural pressure for inflation", says the director of Ci.