“Phones haven’t stopped ringing”…
According to real estate companies in the municipalities of Alcochete and Benavente, the property sector saw “a substantial increase” in demand for real estate in Alcochete and Samora Correia just hours after the government announced the construction of the new airport this week.
“Our phones haven’t stopped ringing. We have clients here with plots of land that we had given a certain value, and they already want to double (the price) on them,” Cristina Peres, from ERA Samora Correia Real Estate, in the municipality of Benavente, told Lusa.
“The land is going to be highly sought after for building new homes, but also for all the services that are needed next to a major airport.
“This is going to be brutal for this area. It used to be a quiet area, but it won’t be any more,” she added.
According to Peres, a flat in Samora Correia currently costs around €200,000 and a villa more than €400,000 – but prices “should go up even more, because Samora Correia is 20 minutes from Lisbon and will be 10 minutes from the future airport”.
On Tuesday, the government announced the construction of the new airport – to replace Lisbon’s current inner city location, at the Air Force Shooting Range, better known as the Alcochete Shooting Range. It’s a ‘confusing’ term, as the site is mainly located in the parish of Samora Correia, with a small part in the parish of Canha, in the municipality of Montijo (Setúbal district).
In the municipalities of Montijo and Alcochete – and also in the district of Setúbal – land and houses are already very expensive for most citizens, but operators in the sector believe demand will increase in the near future.
“What really boosts construction and the buying and selling of property in this region is its location in relation to Setúbal and Lisbon. The airport has always been a side issue, not least because it is not that welcome for some people, who think it could do more harm than good,” said Cláudio Oliveira, from Imobiliária Novo Impacto, who has been working in the sector for over 12 years.
“Of course, for builders and landowners, the expectation is that demand will increase even more, but the reality is that in recent years, supply has been lower than demand,” he said, adding that typical buyers are already finding it difficult to find/ afford a house and the “main buyer of houses in the region is already the international market“.
In the municipality of Alcochete – where a new flat or house can cost tens of thousands of euros more than in Montijo or Samora Correia – Ana Nascimento, from Century21 Nações Real Estate, believes that property is already very expensive and that the announcement of the new airport will not have a significant impact on prices.
“A brand new two-bedroom property in Alcochete can’t be bought for less than €450,000. A townhouse can go for around €550,000, and detached houses for around €1.2 million,” she said.
Despite the high prices, Ana Nascimento said that on Wednesday – the day after the announcement of the new airport – “some large construction companies were already looking for land in the region to see what they could build”.
Francisco Bacelar, vice-president of the Association of Portuguese Real Estate Agents (ASMIP), has no doubt that the construction of the new airport and the high-speed rail links “will bring a lot of interest to the surrounding area and access routes, which could help boost real estate”.
“It will be a new real estate centre – just like Expo98 was 20-something years ago. Around the airport, there will be a new real estate centre, a new city that is envisaged for the coming decades,” he predicted, adding that “obstacles could arise that delay the deadline set by the government for the construction of the new airport”.
According to AD social democrats, the future infrastructure – to be called Luís de Camões Airport – should be completed within 10 – 12 years, and has scope for future expansion.
That said, in the intervening period, the government wants Lisbon’s current Humberto Delgado terminal to keep operating, even adding to its existing capacity – something that political parties have already complained will impact badly on the health of inner city residents.
Source material: LUSA
