Emigrants’ remittances in Portugal have dropped by 1.6 per cent in July, totaling €375.1 million, while the official data reveals that the total value since January is greater than the one recorded in the first seven months of 2022.
The Bank of Portugal data shows that emigrants sent around €381.2 million in July 2022, some six million more than in 2023.
Despite the drop in July, remittances from emigrants in the first seven months of the year have totalled almost €2.3 billion, which is above €2.2 billion recorded between January and July of 2022.
On the other hand, the funds sent by foreigners working in Portugal increased by 14.3 per cent, from €46.6 million in July last year to €53.3 million in July this year. Moreover, Lusophone immigrants working in Portugal sent €3.8 million to their countries, representing a drop of 9.8 per cent compared to the €3.4 million sent in July last year.
However, the Portuguese budget is getting surplus by remittances and selling real estate properties. According to Statistics Portugal, 33,624 houses were sold in the second quarter of the year, with 31,089 purchased by residents and the remaining 7.6 per cent of all houses sold to foreign buyers, representing a 23.8 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
In this period, sales of housing to buyers with tax domicile outside the national territory decreased by 8.9 per cent, to a total of 2,535 units, representing 7.5 per cent of the total, the highest percentage in the series started in the 1st quarter of 2019.
Purchases by tax resident buyers included in the other countries category were up by 10.8 per cent to 1,361 properties.
With regard to the amount invested in the acquisition of houses by citizens residing in Portugal, it surpassed €6 billion. This amount includes the amount spent by foreign citizens of the EU, which is around €349.2 million and other countries €522.1 million.
The high interest in Portuguese houses can be related to the Golden Visa Programme, which allows third-country nationals to obtain a visa by making a certain amount of investment in the country, thus having full access to the Schengen area.
However, just recently, the President of Portugal voted for the abolishment of the programme, and it has now passed without changes.
Once the new law enters force, new requests for granting residence visas for investment activities will not be accepted, which will not affect the possibility of renewing authorisations already granted.
