Portugal’s Golden Residency Offer: the key to property market recovery?

Last August, looking to stimulate its property market as well as its small-to-medium enterprise sector, Portugal introduced a Golden Residency scheme under which a non-EU person can obtain EU residency in return for an investment of €500,000 in property or €1,000,000 in a business.

A major benefit of the Portuguese scheme is that it opens access, with no further passport or immigration controls, to the 26 countries of the Schengen area.

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Astrology and the euro crisis

The euro was launched in a blaze of euphoria on 1st January, 1999. We take midday in Frankfurt as the natal moment. You can look at the euro’s natal chart here

Appropriately for a currency, the ascendant Libra’s ruler is Venus, a key indicator of wealth and prosperity. But Venus is in Capricorn, indicating that this wealth must be hard-won. Clearly the young currency has some painful growing up to do. The Sun too is in Capricorn, and Saturn – ruler of both Sun and Venus in this chart – is in Aries.

Saturn is the disciplinarian of the horoscope. Modulated through Aries, Saturn will be an enthusiastic but headstrong and impulsive teacher, without the patience and compassion that a young, vulnerable Capricorn currency needs to feel secure. Even more challenging is the opposition with Saturn’s ruler Mars in Libra. This is ennervating, as the energy to gets things done is bogged down in endless Libran talks on the Saturnine themes of discipline and austerity.

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No Shortage of Finance for Portuguese Property Purchases

Despite the general slow-down in the Portuguese property market, there are plenty of lenders ready and able to finance purchases by non-residents. However, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratios are lower and the interest spreads are higher than a couple of years ago, with affordability is a key issue.

Yours for 25% down

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The Challenges and Rewards of Sustainable Development

The following notes were originally prepared for a panel entitled “The Challenges and Rewards of Sustainable Development” at the OPPLive! Property Show at London’s ExCeL on 23rd October, 2009, chaired by Gordon Miller of www.whatgreenhome.com.

What is sustainability?

Here are some commonly used definitions:

Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.

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Algarve Property Market Snapshot – October ‘09

One thing is clear: the desire to own an overseas property is as strong as ever. Statistics of people browsing overseas property websites are on the up, and, with the demise of “emerging markets”, interest in the Algarve, as a safe, well-established market with a strong tourism infrastructure and planning controls, is greater than ever. However, over the past year, with the financial crisis and sterling languishing against the euro, actual buyers have been thin on the ground.

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New Banco de Portugal rules concerning some offshore companies

With effect from 17th September, 2009, Portuguese financial institutions and branches in Portugal have been prohibited by the Bank of Portugal from extending credit to entities in so-called tax havens considered un-cooperative or whose ultimate beneficiary is unknown.

The Bank of Portugal considers a tax haven as a jurisdiction that “aims to attract a significant volume of business with non-residents, particularly due to the existence of less stringent procedures for obtaining authorization under the banking and supervisory regime in respect of banking secrecy, tax advantages, differentiating in the law between residents and non-residents or enabling the setting up of special purpose vehicles.”

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