Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa July 2016

PORTUGAL Portugal’s Golden Visa Advantages for Foreign Investors P ortugal has always been a traditional holiday and retirement destination but is now becoming an increasingly attractive location for those in employment with more flexible working conditions wishing to relocate and those in receipt of a pension and other types of income. In 2012 the Portuguese government launched a fasttrack immigration programme for large-scale foreign investors, known as the “Golden Visa”. Under that programme, foreigners get a number of advantages, like a residence visa waiver for entering Portugal and a visa exemption for travelling within the Schengen area. Later they can apply for Portuguese citizenship. By the end of 2015, Portugal had issued 2,788 “golden visas”, resulting from investments of 1.69 billion euros, with 1.53 billion euros stemming from property investments. A surge in French interest has been seen in the last two to three years with many citing Portugal’s Non-Habitual Tax Residency regime (NHR) as a key incentive. Introduced in 2009, the NHR exempts non-residents spending 183 days a year in Portugal, or those with a primary residence in the country, from income tax on non-Portuguese incomes, including pensions, salaries and capital gains for a period of 10 years. Portugal’s Golden Visa, by far the most successful of the European schemes in existence, has seen inward investment focus on the Lisbon area rather than on the Algarve. To date Chinese buyers account for 79% of the 2,853 visas granted since 2012. Overall, the Portuguese property market’s decline since the economic downturn of 2008 is well documented. But sales volumes and prices have responded, albeit in two phases, according to the latest analysis from international real estate firm 60 JULY 2016 SA Real Estate Investor Knight Frank. By 2015 the Algarve (Portugal’s southernmost region) recorded its first annual increase in prime prices since 2008 and Knight Frank’s west Algarve office reported a 32% increase in sales in 2015 compared to 2014. The report points out that British, Irish and German buyers are still evident in the Algarve but French, Scandinavian and non- Europeans, including South Africans and Chinese, are also increasing in number. Sable sponsor SA Rugby Legends tour to Portugal Golden VISA is the winner Sable Group sponsored the recent successful SA Rugby Legends Tour to Lisbon, Portugal from 1 – 5 June, which included several ex-Springboks. SA Rugby Legends founded in 2004 has two main objectives; develop rugby at grassroots level around the world and support the needs and interests of rugby legends. The SA Legend players included a high presence of World Cup winning ex-Springboks such Mark Andrews (from 1995’s World Cup Winning team) and 2007 World Cup winners John Smit, Butch James and Percy Montgomery. It was also the very first time that all the SA Rugby Legends and Springbok rugby players played in Portugal, which included other well-known SA legend rugby players such as Danie Gerber, Gary Teichmann, Brent Russell, De Wet Barry and Thinus Delport. Sable Group have been helping South African small to medium size businesses, private individuals and clients with their international investment interests for over 4 years in Portugal. This includes www.reimag.co.za

Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa July 2016 | Page 62