Chinese investment in Lisbon property plummeted last year, down 46.5 percent to 54 million euros (US$59.3 million), even as Chinese investments in Portugal surged to become nearly 70 percent of all foreign investment in the country in 2023.
Although purchases reached a high in 2020 of 183.8 million euros, Chinese investment in real estate in the capital city has been falling ever since, now accounting for only 6 percent of the total foreign acquisitions in Lisbon. French, German and Brazilian buyers also showed less interest in 2023. American and British buyers increased their real estate purchases, but even so the Lisbon housing market recovered by a mere 0.2 percent from 2022, when investment dropped 5 percent, for a total of 911.8 million euros.
Many things may have contributed to reduced interest, including the end of the so-called “golden visas” for real estate purchases and rising average costs of housing.
[See more: Portuguese citizens can travel to China visa-free from mid-October]
Chinese investment in Portugal overall, however, continues to grow, jumping nearly 35 percent in 2023 to 368 million euros (US$404 million) and accounting for almost 70 percent of all foreign investment.
Paulo Jorge Nascimento, Portugal’s ambassador to China, said in a recent interview with the Global Times, said he expects Chinese investment in Portugal will only increase in the coming years.
The ambassador also emphasised a desire to increase trade in goods alongside the increase in services. Recent figures reported by Forum Macao show that Chinese imports from Portugal, China’s third-largest trade partner among the Portuguese-speaking countries after Brazil and Angola, increased 9.2 percent in the first seven months of 2024 to US$1.75 billion.
