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Comment by tcgv | Hacker News Reader

Portugal had a golden visa program that granted citzenship if you bought real state of at least 500k EUR. That drove home prices up signficantly in Lisbon, specailly units in that price range.

Under new law, the Portuguese Golden Visa no longer provides Residency status through Real Estate investments.

[1] https://www.portugalhomes.com/golden-visa-portugal

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The golden visas were issued in relatively small numbers, I doubt they affect price much vs all the short term rentals like Airbnb combined with explosive popularity of Portugal.

The number of golden visas may be relatively small to affect prices on themselves (around 20.000 for Portugal in the last ~10y [1]). But I would bet that there is a connection between golden visas and the rise in the numbers of AirBnB properties.

The golden visa is just a fast and convenient way to get a foothold in the country and do further investments. And what would these investments be? Probably AirBnBs...

This is supported by data presented in [1]: >90% of golden visa holders acquired it via real estate investments. Now, would anyone pour their life's savings in a single property investment in a far away land? I would say no. So these golden visa holders are probably very well-off and they will continue "investing" in real estate, and expecting returns on their investment. Which translates to more AirBnBs.

[1] https://getgoldenvisa.com/portugal-golden-visa-statistics#ft...

They also have to remove that "golden visa" in Spain due to the same problem. I wonder if Italy, Greece, and Malta will also remove/reform their law due to the same problem...

>They also have to remove that "golden visa" in Spain due to the same problem

Found this article that indicates Golden Visas account for 14,500 of approximately 600,000 home sales per year in Spain. [0]

[0] https://www.idealista.com/en/news/luxury-real-estate-in-spai...

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