“When asked what prices they will charge in new contracts to be signed in the second half of 2021, three-quarters (76.5 percent) of the surveyed owners respond that they will keep prices unchanged. But the percentage of owners who intend to increase prices (12.6 percent) is greater than the percentage of those who indicate that they will decrease the prices (10.9 percent)”, concluded the ALP “Confiança dos Proprietários” Barometer.

The barometer was carried out between 1 May and 7 June, 2021 with more than two hundred owners, of which almost three quarters were members of the ALP (75.5 percent).

Regarding the impact of the pandemic on rental prices, 36.4 percent of respondents believe that prices will stabilize and 35.5 percent believe they will decrease.

With regard to the purchase and sale of properties in the second half of the year, 44.9 percent of the surveyed owners are of the opinion that less properties will be sold, but they think that prices will remain at pre-pandemic levels.

A third (33.6 percent) believe that foreign investors will be the main buyers of property in Portugal during the second half of the year, with another third (33.2 percent) considering that prices will fall, especially in the non- housing (offices/commerce).

“Only 6.1 percent of respondents are convinced that the 'real estate bubble' in the buying and selling segment will 'burst', says the ALP.

As for urban rehabilitation works, a third of the surveyed sample says they intend to carry out operations in the second half of the year, and energy efficiency is an issue that is important to almost three quarters of respondents (73.5 percent).

In this sense, of the owners who intend to move forward with works to improve energy efficiency, a quarter say they will use funds from the Environmental Fund, specifically from the second phase of the More Sustainable Buildings Program, to replace window frames (82.4 percent), reinforcing the thermal insulation of houses (49.3 percent) and a quarter evaluating the installation of sustainable/renewable energy production solutions.

The ALP survey is national, but more than half (48.6 percent) of those surveyed own properties in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area region.

The vast majority of respondents (93.2 percent) own properties placed in the traditional rental market and 58.6 percent of respondents own one to five properties.