PORTUGAL
BY GARY KOCKOTT
The New Frontier For
Global Citizens
Mature market
A
t the turn of the 19th century, a young
journalist named Richard H. Davis put
Portugal in the spotlight. To Davis, a man
close to the heart of political circles, Portugal was
far from the comical outpost straddling the edge of
Europe depicted in the press, but a rich epicentre of
history and beauty.
Spoofing the popular view, Davis wrote: “Portugal
is a high hill with a white watchtower on it flying
signal flags. It is apparently inhabited by one man
who lives in a long row of yellow houses with red
roofs, and populated by sheep who do grand acts of
balancing on the side of the hill.”
What Davis realised early on was that Portugal’s
interconnectedness to mainland Europe would make
it one of the world’s most globalised nations.
A property mecca
A century later, in August 2013, Portugal won nine
awards at the World Travel Awards for Europe and,
earlier this year, CNN argued that Lisbon could be
‘Europe’s coolest city’. Today, the country’s property
50
Offshore Handbook 2014
sector is attracting international investors. Experts
are likening long-term rental investment nodes
like Cascais and Estoril to Camps Bay and Clifton.
Pristine beaches, close proximity to top international
schools, world-class golf clubs, and an excellent train
service to Lisbon are wooing investors.
These primary home markets are fast attracting
good covenant tenants like foreign corporate
e xecut ives on t h ree-yea r cont racts, NATO
employees and embassy staff (not to mention wealthy
French escaping the new tax regime in France).
Chris Immelman, MD of Pam G