The Portuguese property market has a few quirks and if you’ve been browsing property websites for a while you may have noticed that sometimes when a property sits on the market for a long time, it is suddenly re-listed – but at a higher price.
This seems to contradict what you’d expect to happen. Surely if a property isn’t selling then it’s priced too high and the seller should re-list it at a lower price, not a higher one?
According to Camille Ramiere from property agency Bloom Spaces, “the seller probably doesn’t want to sell.” Most of the time, the seller is trying to work out what the property is worth and so tries listing the property at different prices to see how much it can sell for.
If you’ve been watching the property listings for a while, you may have spotted sellers that are doing this. However, if you haven’t and you fall in love with one of these properties, it can be quite frustrating. Even if you want to buy at that price, that doesn’t mean the seller is willing to sell.
That’s not to say that the seller won’t sell the property at that price, of course. You can still make an offer and hope that they do. However, it’s quite possible that you will get as far as the CPCV or promissory contract stage and find out that they’re not willing to sell at this stage.
There is software that can help, which buyer’s agencies like Bloom Spaces use. They can look at how long a property has been on the market and the different prices it has been listed at. If it suggests that the seller has been listing the property without a strong desire to sell then a buyer’s agent can alert you to this. You can still put in an offer if you wish, but it helps set appropriate expectations. It can also help determine how much a property is really worth.
