Licenses for new homes grow by nearly 8%

The beginning of the year brought auspicious signs for the problem of housing shortages in the country. In the first quarter, 8801 dwellings in new constructions were licensed, a figure that corresponds to a year-on-year increase of 7.6% and 35.8% compared to the same period of 2019 (pre-pandemic). However, only 3881 new buildings were licensed for family housing, which represents a year-on-year drop of 12.2%. These indicators allow us to conclude that future housing projects will have a larger dimension.

The decline in licenses for new residential buildings is also evident in the total number of permits, which reached 6246 in the first three months of 2023, 10.9% less than in the same period of the previous year. Contributing to this decrease were new constructions, which showed a year-on-year drop of 11.1%, and rehabilitation, with a decrease of licensed buildings of 10.2%, released yesterday the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Of the total number of new permits, 81.7% are for housing and 76.1% are for new construction.

In an analysis by regions, it appears that only the Algarve has a year-on-year growth in the licensing of new residential buildings, of 14.9%. The North registers a drop of 13.4%, the Center of 9.9%, the Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (AML) of 16.9%, Alentejo of 7.8%, Madeira 1.1% and the Azores of 31 ,1%. In terms of the number of licensed dwellings, the scenario is different. According to INE data, the North sees an increase in the number of licensed houses by 8%, the Center by 4.6% and AML by 5%. In the Algarve, licensed fires rise by 77% and in Madeira by 35%. In Alentejo, there is a drop of 17.9% and in the Azores of 43%.

According to INE, the sharp growth in the Algarve is justified by the licensing of new dwellings in Loulé, Lagos, Albufeira, Portimão and Silves. In Madeira, the increase is due to the dynamics of projects in the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos and Funchal. The strong drop seen in the Azores can be attributed to the base effect, since in the first quarter of 2022 this region recorded a 34.8% increase in the number of licensed dwellings, justifies the institute.


In the first three months of this year, the total licensed area in the country increased by 2.7% compared to the same period of the previous year. But, according to INE, in the monthly analysis, there is a trend of continuous reduction in the licensing of buildings from October 2022. February was the month with the biggest decrease, a decrease of 16.9% compared to the same month of last year.

Statistics relating to buildings completed in the first quarter of this year also note a decrease in this indicator. The drop was 2.9% compared to the first quarter of 2022, having, however, increased by 9.4% compared to the first three months of 2019, totaling 3674 thousand buildings. The new construction component accounts for 82.9% of the number of completed works, with 77.1% destined for family housing. The regions of Madeira, Azores, Alentejo and Center showed an increase in the number of completed buildings, while in the other regions the variations were negative.

Source: Diário de Notícias