2022 – The importance of housing in Portugal: a macroeconomic perspective
in Rodrigues, P. M.M. (Ed), The real estate market in Portugal: Prices, rents, tourism and accessibility, FFMS.
Chapter abstract: In this chapter, we describe the importance of the housing market for macroeconomic dynamics in Portugal. This description will be divided into two blocks: 1) the importance of the real estate market in economic cycles; and 2) the relevance of real estate in the financial balance of families. First, we describe the real estate cycle in Portugal using data from the national accounts of Statistics Portugal (INE), the Statistics Office of the European Union (Eurostat) and the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD). Second, we will use microdata from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) of the European Central Bank to describe the importance of real estate in the financial statements of families in Portugal.
Book abstract: The analysis of real estate market dynamics has gained interest in recent years, following the US subprime collapse in 2007, which quickly spread worldwide and led to housing markets significantly impacting the global economy. As such, understanding price and rent dynamics in real estate markets is of foremost importance from a social, economic and public policy perspective. The focus of this study is the Portuguese real estate market. House prices in Portugal have been increasing in recent years, following a relatively inexpressive evolution during the 1990s and until the financial crisis of 2007. A detailed characterization of the price dynamics and different dimensions of the housing market up until the beginning of 2020 is provided. The in depth and comprehensive analyses in the different chapters of this study represent an important contribution to the understanding of potential future paths for the housing market in Portugal.
You can access the book here, and a summary in Portuguese here. This book has made several media appearances, such as at Rádio Renascença (here), at Fronteiras XXI in RTP3 (here) and at Esta Manhã in TVI (here).