Although, we have noticed there are a lot of decrepit and abandoned buildings.
We asked several guides about this and got a bit of historical, economic and political background for perspective. A very high level overview follows:
For centuries Portugal was a very prosperous country with their Age of Discovery and colonies around the world bringing wealth and prosperity to the country.
Then for various reasons, beyond the scope of this blog, Portugal is now one of the poorer European countries.
One reason is that in recent history, Portugal was under a dictatorship for 48 years. Under the rule of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar the country stagnated in many ways, including economically.
From a housing perspective, rents were frozen for many years. This meant there was no money for landlords to maintain, update and renovate buildings. The buildings deteriorated and fell into disrepair, making many uninhabitable.
There was a revolution in 1974 and the country desperately needed to catch up to modern European standards.
Fast forward to current times, there is more money in the pockets of locals, plus foreign investment is heating up. This is resulting in renovations to buildings.
What also needs to be noted, is that a lot of the renovations can be attributed to tourism, hotels, short term rental and Airbnb investment.
This would be both local money, but, also international investment.
There are mixed feelings from local residents. At the moment they are glad because it is making the cities prettier, bringing in tourists and creating jobs in different sectors.
But, in the long run, as is happening in many countries, will they be happy that so much of their country is foreign owned?
Only time will tell, and Portugal has a very long history.
3 comments:
It's a very hard balance and many countries struggle with it. Certainly, Canada has had it's issues with foreign investment pricing out the locals...
Lynda, that is exactly what I was thinking too. And locals aren't happy that they can't afford a home in their hometown. I wouldn't be either. Vancouver is a prime example. It is also common in London, Australia and New Zealand. IMO there should be taxes on foreign buyers, non residents, empty homes and speculators.
San Francisco as well. Most cannot afford homes to buy, but are also unable to find homes to rent. Many homes are left empty as foreign investors really don't want to bother with tenants. I also noticed alot of decrepit buildings in Spain. I was told it was custom as an older family member dies to leave the building to deteriorate or it will make the deceased mad. But I wondered if it had anything to do with young people moving to larger cities and the family not having the means to update the property and not as many people staying in these small towns.
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