Spain, Portugal encourage foreign property investments

KUALA LUMPUR: On the back of a falling euro, foreign investors have more opportunities to own Spanish and Portuguese real estate, says Antonio Vinal Jr, a partner of Spanish law firm Antonio Vinal & Co Abogados.

Speaking at a seminar on real estate and the golden visa programme in Spain and Portugal in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday, he said the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor) slid to an all-time low at 0.096% for a six-month maturity period, and property prices are being reduced 30% to 45%.

According to Economic and Commercial Commissioner of the Embassy of Spain in Malaysia Rafael Matos, who was at the event, “Housing prices increased some 150% from 2000 to 2008, and investments on new residential buildings amounted to 12% of gross domestic product.”

Vinal Jr said both Spain and Portugal are now seeing new growth activities in the real estate sector, and foreigners are welcome to invest in the sector of both countries.

“Property market sales have gone up 20% year-on-year  from October 2013 and mortgages seem to reveal that banks are back to lending.”

He added that some of the reasons for real estate investment in Spain and Portugal are for educational, health and tax purposes. 

Spain’s popular locations for real estate investment include Madrid, Catalonia, and the Valencia Region. In Portugal, there is Lisbon, Porto, Coast of Estoril and Cascais. Property types include residential apartments, vineyards and olive groves, building for refurbishment, commercial property, hotels and shopping malls.

Investors in both countries can obtain a fast-track visa via the golden visa programme with a minimum investment of €500,000 (RM1.97 million) to qualify.

Antonio Vinal & Co Abogados is based in Portugal, Italy and Malaysia.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 20, 2015.