Eight out of ten properties purchased this year under the golden visa regime are located in the districts of Lisbon and Porto.

According to Jornal de Notícias, contrary to the plan from the government to attract investment away from the cities and the coast, only 61 (ie 7.5%) of the properties purchased through the golden visa programme are located in sparsely populated regions, while 465 are in the district of Lisbon and 178 in Porto.

Since January 1, the Government has made it difficult to issue residence permits to anyone buying houses in the two largest cities and on the coast but has not prevented purchases for residential or tourist purposes.

Despite this, the city of Lisbon alone concentrates almost half (49.4%) of the properties transacted until October, a total of 399. Still in the district of Lisbon, there were 37 properties acquired in the municipality of Cascais, ten in Sintra and nine in Oeiras.