- The measures are part of the Mas Vivienda program, with the objective of “facilitating access to housing”. Among them, tourist homes will have to pay an additional 15 per cent fee and will reduce the golden visa to travel to home buyers.
The Portuguese Government launched the Housing Programme in March 2022 with the aim of “facilitating access to housing”. A week ago, however, it adopted new measures, such as the ban on opening tourist homes in Lisbon and Porto. The opening of these houses should be approved by the rest of the building owners.
It was originally proposed to pay an additional fee of 35%, but it is currently approved to be 15%. Among the measures are the limits to the "golden visas" offered for the purchase of housing. According to El País, between 2012 and 2023 the Portuguese Government offered 11,758 "gold visa", of which 9 out of 10 were for buyers.
The President of the Lisbon Tenants Association, Romão Lavadinho, highlighted the deficiencies of tourist housing in the newspaper: “Tourist housing is not compatible with housing, as it increases the insecurity and discomfort of residents.”
The housing problem
In 2022, there were 723,215 vacant homes in Portugal, with a total of 108,523 homes for tourist use, representing 1.8% of the total.
In Spain, 1.2% of all homes are tourist.