Why the Silver Coast of Portugal is a great place to invest in 2011

There are so many reasons why the Silver Coast is a great place to buy an investment property.

We’ve owned properties there now for 4 years and the demand for our holiday properties has increased massively over that time. When we first advertised there were only 11 competing properties that we could find on the web.  Now (2011) there are over 200 and we are still experiencing more demand than we can satisfy over the summer period. We have added 25 properties to our Silver Coast property portfolio from investor owners (and our own properties) in the past 2 years. To see the portfolio visit http://www.rental-retreats.co.uk/rental-properties

Our own holiday apartments are by the beach in Sao Martinho Do Porto and Nazare on the Silver Coast. That’s just an hour drive away from Lisbon airport which is served by many airlines. It’s a 2.5 hour flight from London and typically costs between £55-£180 for a return flight. Thankfully because Lisbon itself is popular throughout the year it means our holiday makers can also get across off season and some prefer to do this to avoid the very hot weather. This gives us the opportunity to sell more weeks throughout the year. Last year our properties sold an average of 25 weeks.  

Unlike the Algarve the Silver Coast is still very Portuguese and it benefits from a long history making the region interesting and beautiful. And because it is being discovered a little later than the Algarve it also means that learnings that have taken place in the Algarve have been applied to the Silver Coast from the start. For example there are strict planning laws restricting most buildings to two stories. Whilst there are higher buildings they do not dominate the landscape and you can still appreciate the greenery all around.

Given how strapped for cash many of us are recently you would have thought that holidays abroad would be considered as a luxury. However this doesn’t seem to have affected demand for our properties in Sao Martinho Do Porto and Nazare. We’re not quite sure why that is but we guess it’s a combination of factors – because flights are relatively inexpensive, the food and drink is the cheapest in Western Europe and because more families are clubbing together to stay in a rental villa or apartment rather than looking at more expensive individual holidays in hotels.

Then we come on to the Portuguese themselves. What a lovely nationality! The Portuguese have welcomed us very warmly and there is generally a strong bond between the British and the Portuguese. This makes it great for us but also great for the other British families that stay in our apartments and villas.

As an investor in terms of your costs you can expect to pay very little by equivalent to council tax – we pay around €400 a year. Gas and electricity are about the same but you’ll also save on areas such as key changing fees and cleaning charges. There also seems to be capital gains tax advantages with Portuguese properties although you’ll need to speak to your accountant for more information about this.    

Now although all of this was very important to us as investors it was really something else that made us buy. And that is the Silver Coast itself! It has wonderful soft sandy beaches, great Portuguese restaurants, stunning castles and cobbled street towns, a beautiful, green countryside, lots of sunshine & sunsets and plenty of delicious wine. It’s the sort of place you want to just kick off your shoes and relax for a while – we do that regularly.  It isn’t overcrowded or overbearing. That’s why we have guests coming back each year and why we believe it’s really worth a look if you are an investor.

If you want to ask a question on the area just post it here.