Reduce the IMT (Municipal Tax on Onerous Property Transfers), use BIM (Building Information Modelling) technology, put empty houses on the market, lower construction VAT. These are the solutions proposed by several experts who this Tuesday attended the “Acceleration of Housing Construction” conference organized by the Casais group, in Lisbon,
The problems are several. Ricardo Guimarães, director of Confidencial Imobiliário, began by remembering that, with the rise in interest rates, there was also a drop in property transactions, going from “the peak of 2021 with around 44 thousand quarterly transactions, to 33 thousand at the end of 2023”. And António Ramalho, former CEO of Novo Banco, highlighted that, now with the fall in interest rates, transactions will rise in value very similar to what they fell before.
However, now with transactions rising, what happened? “The price [das casas] it got higher and the yields didn’t keep up with the price”said Ramalho. On top of that, one of the main problems is the practically non-existent rental market, pointed out Ricardo Guimarães.
Fernando Santo, former President of the Order of Engineers and former Secretary of State, also pointed out that, now, “housing is seen as a luxury good, an income” and that, throughout the 21st century, it has been destroyed. if the construction sector.
Nuno Fox
What are the solutions?
For the former CEO of Novo Banco, the solutions could include lowering the cost of construction (effective and fiscal), land, opting for construction processes other than masonry – which several experts defended – and even choosing by models other than “amortizing” (read, the traditional credit in which installments are paid over a certain maturity, which in housing can be up to 40 years).
António Ramalho also defends “increasing the IMI [Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis] and lower the IMT”. Ramalho also asked that empty dwellings be placed on the market after leaving them in habitable conditions, as “the market is showing that there are fewer dwellings”, as prices continue to rise. Filipa Roseta, councilor for Housing and Municipal Works at Lisbon City Council, also recalled the importance of rehabilitation: “the council had many houses built that were empty because they needed work, these are the quickest [de colocar no mercado]”.
In turn, Nuno Ventura Bento highlighted the need to “have measures adjusted to each territory”, as not all municipalities have the same problems and the same growth rates. The member of the Lisbon 2030 Regional Program at the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR LVT) even recalled that, while Lisbon lost almost seven thousand inhabitants, municipalities such as Mafra, Torres Vedras or Arruda dos Vinhos managed to increase and establish population – Mafra was in fact the one that grew the most according to the 2021 Census.
Ricardo Guimarães said that, since “the conversion of the project into work is becoming less and less”, “measures such as the reduction of VAT in construction should not be postponed”. [que foi inscrita no Orçamento do Estado]which brings only high-end homes to the market” that do not need to wait for the VAT reduction to be viable.
Fernando Santo considers that the construction cost has to be adjusted, as “it is not affordable for families’ income”. “We have low cost everywhere, so why don’t we have it in housing?”he asked, remembering the beginning of the century where people could build for around 500 euros per m2.
But Filipa Roseta thinks exactly the opposite. “We shouldn’t lower the cost of construction, people should be paid for their work. I remember when the cost [do m2] it was low,” he said, noting that labor was underpaid at that time. Therefore, in his view, empty public land should be used – in this case, Lisbon has empty land that could be used for the construction of 30 thousand homes, of which 7 thousand belong to the City Council (3 thousand already in progress). “The only result that is delivered in housing is to hand over keys to people”he declared.
The councilor of the Lisbon municipality also considers that BIM technology – technology that allows the design and management of new building projects and works, from their creation (models, calculations, measurements, budget, among others), controlling their execution and maintenance – gave architects, “finally” the possibility of “taking full advantage of prefabrication”. However, Fernando Santo, despite recognizing the advantages of prefabrication, considers that “there needs to be scale”, to know what will actually be carried out in the coming years so that the processes are fluid.
