(Newswire.net — May 31, 2022) —
The earthquake of 1755 razed Lisbon, Portugal’s fashionable capital city, to the ground. Its appetite for rebuilding has been voracious ever since. Lisbon remains one of the oldest cities in the world, yet it stays at the forefront of real estate development due to factors beyond its gorgeous climate and low cost of living. Most recently, Portugal’s technology boom and a renewed focus on entrepreneurial pursuits fuel real estate growth throughout the country, particularly in Lisbon.
In the wake of the Great Recession of 2007-2008, a hard-bitten Portugal craved sturdier economic guard rails. So, the country’s entrepreneurs and government leaders reconstructed an environment supportive of economic growth. The government launched one popular strategy in 2012, its Golden Visa Program, which has since made Portugal – in particular, Lisbon – a hotspot for those who want to fast-track European residency through real estate investments.
Later, the government introduced the Tech Visa and Startup Visa to infuse Portugal with technology experts and innovators. These are residential visas for entrepreneurs that encourage freelancers and short-term employees to enter the country and live there temporarily while, should they choose, pursuing a path toward residency.
With strategies in place to attract innovators locally and abroad, Portugal’s newfound entrepreneurialism is positioning Lisbon as a leading European tech hub. And the digital tech startup scene shows no signs of slowing down.
Why Investor Luis Horta e Costa Chose Lisbon
Lisbon is a welcoming ecosystem for many reasons beyond its mild temperatures and colorful cobbled streets. Portugal’s English language proficiency is higher than Spain’s, France’s or Italy’s, so Lisbon offers a predominantly English-speaking talent pool. These employees – especially high-quality engineering talent – can be hired for reasonable wages. And since Lisbon real estate is less expensive than in other European capitals, tech talent can be lured by reasonably priced housing.
Such traits make Lisbon particularly attractive for emerging tech startups, so they flourish there. According to a recent Hubs in Europe report by Startup Europe, Lisbon currently boasts 32 technology scale-ups (new firms that have raised capital at $1 million). These scale-ups comprise 47 percent of the city’s businesses. Lisbon is “one of the biggest hubs for startups in Europe along with London, Berlin, Paris and Copenhagen,” according to the EU Startup Monitor.
For these and many other reasons, Luis Horta e Costa and his partners chose to found Square View in Lisbon in 2016. The firm is a real estate property developer and asset manager that focuses on Lisbon’s prime and emerging neighborhoods and surrounding areas.
Horta e Costa has been a longtime player in Portugal’s real estate investment space. He co-founded Square View because he loves working with architects to create remarkable properties.
“Even without looking at real estate as a business, I have always made money in it,” he says, listing off names of personal properties he has developed in sought-after locales Quinta da Marinha, Portugal, and Trancoso, Brazil.
At Square View, Horta e Costa focuses on investor relations and the new investment opportunities pipeline. Before founding Square View, he spent 35 years at Espírito Santo Group, first in Brazil and later in Angola. There, he was involved in developing a successful private investment platform and he produced more than 250,000 square meters in real estate projects. He was also the co-founder of Habitat Investment, a real estate investment company in Lisbon.
Luis Horta e Costa favors the Portuguese Real Estate Market
According to the Savills Buying Guide, property prices in Lisbon have almost doubled since 2016. The overwhelming popularity of two hotspots, Lisbon and the northern city of Oporto, is pricing locals out of the market, as foreigners are willing to pay more for real estate. An April 2022 Bloomberg article explains that the Portuguese government has had to restrict the Golden Visa Program to property purchases outside those two in-demand cities to regulate demand. Luis Horta e Costa sees the popularity of Portugal real estate as a golden opportunity to do what he loves: Develop beautiful properties.
“Each time that we can develop something nice, I love to do it,” he says, citing the success of a project Square View developed in Intendente, a section of Lisbon once best avoided.
A former hotbed of prostitution and drug trafficking, Intendente has undergone a dramatic makeover to become one of the hippest neighborhoods in Lisbon, full of multicultural food options, open-air movie screenings and outdoor concerts. Many Intendente developers and house flippers restore historic buildings while preserving their original façades, many of which are finished in distinctively painted tiles called “azulejos,” a Portuguese tradition.
“Square View bought a big ruin in Intendente,” Luis Horta e Costa says. “We rebuilt it, and now it’s a beautiful, small apartment building. It is very well done, and it brings a lot of life to Intendente.”
This Square View development is called Largo Intendente 57. It comprises six floors and 51 apartments in a historic building designed in the pre-Pombaline Portuguese architectural style, a restrained Neoclassical aesthetic. The renovation project ensured that the building’s original facade was maintained. The architect left many historical elements of a characterizing nature in the refurbishment, including stonework, cornices, and balusters. It is the sort of redevelopment whose reputation attracts sightseers and gets neighbors singing its praises.
Portugal’s Future Looks Bright
As Portugal’s government develops more initiatives to stimulate the real estate ecosystem, Horta e Costa and his family have acquired land to develop in Santiago do Cacém in the municipality of Setúbal in the Baixo Alentejo region. This pretty-as-a-postcard city by the sea boasts a historic castle, Roman ruins, and the lagoons of Santo André and Sancha, making it ripe for real estate development.
Square View continues to develop inspirational projects in beautiful destinations, riding the wave of real estate success. Next up? Horta e Costa would love to find the perfect spot for building a wellness center and a meditation center.
Luis Horta e Costa is also adding new revenue streams to Square View. Beyond building and selling properties, the firm wants to include a build-and-rent model.
“The future for Square View is to grow,” Horta e Costa says. “Not very much. We don’t like to be the biggest, but we like to be the best.”