Welcome to the Week em Breve, a wrap-up of important Portuguese news to keep you up to date and in the know.
Tourism spending hits new high
Last year, tourism revenue in Portugal reached €27.7 billion, according to the Bank of Portugal, Publituris reports.
This is an 8.8% increase compared to 2023 and an almost 52% increase since 2019, according to the publication.
Those that contributed the most, according to the Bank of Portugal, were “tourists residing in the United Kingdom (€4.1 billion), France (€3.2 billion) and Germany (€3.1 billion),” Publituris reports.
Rural land prices on the rise
The listed price of rural land in Portugal is increasing after the introduction of the new “land law” (lei dos solos), which allows it to be rezoned for housing.
Real estate agents who reported the increase say the change is expected but not yet indicative of a trend with few actual transactions taking place, Público reports.
There is ongoing uncertainty around the law due to legal challenges, with revisions and changes still expected, according to the publication. These include the reincorporation of affordable or controlled-cost housing, which were previously cut from the law.
The Legal Framework for Land Management Instruments (Regime Jurídico dos Instrumentos de Gestão Territorial, RJIGT), was created to address the housing crisis, according to its promoters.
Speaking to Público, the president of the Association of Real Estate Professionals and Companies of Portugal (Associação dos Profissionais e Empresas de Mediação Imobiliária de Portugal, APEMIP) said “the law will have no effect on the market. Absolutely none,” mainly due to the timelines of any such project.
Lisbon is the eighth most attractive city for real estate investment in Europe
Ranking in the top ten for the first time since 2023, Lisbon real estate will continue to attract significant amounts of foreign investment, according to Global Commercial Real Estate Services (CBRE), Forbes Portugal reports.
The ranking comes from the European Investor Intentions Survey 2025 by CBRE, a consultancy service specializing in real estate.
More than two-thirds of investors believe the European market has recovered from the 2023 decline, and 92% expressed their intention to maintain or increase their real estate trading.
Fewer than 1 in 10 applications by Brazilian teachers approved
Despite a severe teacher shortage in Portugal, the Directorate-General for School Administration (Direcção-Geral da Administração Escolar, DGAE) has only approved about 10% of requests to recognize qualifications from teachers trained in Brazil.
Just 22 of 253 applications have been approved since the 2022/2023 academic year, with almost half still being processed, according to Público.
This is part of the wider “brain waste” reported late last year, with around 40% of immigrants with higher education employed below their qualifications.
Far-right censure motion defeated
A censure motion brought against Portugal’s government by the far-right Chega party was rejected by parliament on Friday.
The vote of no confidence was sparked by the news that Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s family owns a real estate company.
Only Chega and the former-Chega independent Miguel Arruda voted in favour, while the communist party abstained and all other members voted against.
Almost 80,000 immigration cases to be rejected
It was announced that the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) will notify 76,000 applicants that their requests for regularisation have been rejected, according to Portugal Immigration News.
These are being issued to applicants who did not respond to the notification to schedule a meeting, Pedro Portugal Gaspar, president of AIMA, said in a parliamentary hearing.
AIMA plans to clear its backlog of immigration applicants by June 2025, which would mean processing 2,150 cases per day.
The agency also announced a plan to hire 450 employees in the coming months, most of whom will be on a fixed-term contract of up to three years to tackle pending applications.
Earthquakes felt in Lisbon
An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale hit Portugal last Monday. Several schools were briefly evacuated, but there was no damage or injuries reported.
Its epicenter was around 14 kilometers off the coast of Seixal, but it was felt in the Algarve and Lisbon.
There were further, smaller earthquakes on Tuesday morning, the strongest measuring 2.4 on the Richter scale.
In a statement to journalists, Lisbon city mayor Carlos Moedas said that in the case of an earthquake, people should take cover under a table or in a doorway. After the earthquake stabilizes, they should exit buildings to large, open spaces before heading to one of the 86 preparation points in the city.
