The need to make up for financial shortfalls is leading the Portuguese to look for smaller houses.
Source: Freepik
Author: Redaction
About 50% of the Portuguese are already choosing to exchange their current property for houses with smaller areas and lower values to avoid the risk of defaulting on loans, in a period when rising interest rates are putting increasing pressure on family budgets, reveals
imovendo in a statement to
SUPERCASA Notícias, after analysing a survey of more than 800 people.
The proptech survey also revealed that 20% of owners who put a property up for sale in the first quarter of the year did so to fill the needs that are accumulating due to inflation and rising interest rates.
"Many Portuguese homeowners are currently more focused on ensuring they can comfortably pay off their home loan than buying the biggest or most luxurious property that the family budget allows", highlights Miguel Mascarenhas, co-founder of Imovendo, pointing out that "the trend of people looking to switch to smaller homes is not new, but it has accentuated significantly in this first quarter of 2023."
"The impact of rising interest rates has been huge. In my case, my instalment that started, in 2021, at €400, has gone, in 2023, to €700. Not all families will be able to afford these increases", confessed one of the respondents - who preferred to remain anonymous - who is trying to sell his house outside major centres like
Porto and
Lisbon.
The significant number of homeowners selling their properties to meet financial needs reflects the deepening economic uncertainty and difficulties in the budgets of Portuguese families.
"Although there is still a significant proportion of homeowners putting their homes up for sale due to family changes (46%), the rate of people who have moved on due to monetary necessity is already significant and worrying. It is necessary that the government reflects seriously on this change, since the rental market is also quite inflated", stresses the head of proptech in the note to which
SUPERCASA Notícias had access.