RENTAL POTENTIAL | Rental market
The sales market in Portugal may be in the doldrums , but the rental market is still strong . Anyone having difficulty trying to sell their second home in Portugal or , maybe just wanting the property to earn its keep , should look at renting out their property on either a long let or for holiday lets .
“ Over the last few years , the rental market has just got better and better ” says Rob Kestholt of Silver Holidays - www . silverholidays . com . “ People , who would have spent around € 700,000 upwards on a property , but have decided not to buy , still love coming to Portugal . So they are choosing to take more luxurious holidays there and therefore rentals for the bigger , high end properties are booming ”.
Many of the properties being let out are owned by people who either want to cover the running costs and maybe give themselves a little extra cash or , are trying but failing , to sell , so renting the property is a good financial alternative . “ Three years ago , we had 60 properties on our books . Then two years ago , this bumped up to 87 ” says Rob . “ Many of these came from owners we have previously sold to ”.
Anyone thinking of buying an investment property , which they will rent out , should look at the top end of the market and ideally a four to five bedroom villa or three bedroom townhouse . The property must have its own pool , modern kitchens and bathrooms , air conditioning . “ People do not want anything less than they have back home . The property needs to be spot on in price and quality ” he says . Properties which have Portuguese style bathrooms and kitchens are getting less and less booked . “ And I would definitely advise people not to buy a one or two bedroom apartment , as there are so many of those around at the moment ” he adds . In August , the larger villas ( which are always booked first ) rent out from € 1,850 to € 3,500 a week . Townhouses with their own pool rent in the high season for around € 1,250 a month .
Algarve Accommodation Agency - www . algarveaccommodation . co . uk which is based in Lagos , has between 80 to 100 properties on its books at any one time , from one bedroom apartments up to a fabulous nine bedroom villa . In the high season , a small apartment would rent for € 350 a week and a nice four to five bedroom villa for around € 1,500 to € 1,750 . Their main rental season is May to October . “ The most popular properties are the four bedroom villas , which always go first . People wanting an apartment often wait till nearer the time to book ” says Jill Marsh , who founded the company .
Arcadia - www . arcadialuxuryvillas . com , which specialises in the top end of the market in the Algarve with the majority of its properties being in Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo , reports that the rental market was very strong in 2011 and is looking to carry on in that vein this year . “ The most popular rental is a four bedroom villa with pool and garden . We rent these out for between € 5,000 and € 9,000 per week ” says Lisa Silva . Their busiest times are usually from the end of June to the end of August , but last year , she says , this extended to the 15th September .
One way to stretch out the weeks you can let a property is to put in pool heating . “ This can increase the rental season from May to the end of October ” says Rob Kestholt . “ We persuaded a few of our clients to do that last year and it definitely made a difference ”. He is also seeing an increase in groups of people coming over for three to four days out of season – March / April / May and September / October . “ This could be a group of men , who want to play golf or , women who come to Portugal for a spot of pampering , but they always tend to rent the bigger properties ” he says .
So , all is not doom and gloom in sunny Portugal . If your property is in the right location , has a modern kitchen and bathrooms and all the mod cons , then think about renting it out and it should be able to earn its keep .
( For a selection of rental properties on the market see pages 54 & 55 )
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