Hi and welcome to our news blog.
The Covid19 has been relatively under control in Portugal. Several countries in Europe are suffering severely with this pandemic but Portugal has one of the smallest rates in the Eurozone and the world. Some say that this is because (1) geographic location (Portugal is one of few countries which has only one border), (2) it was fast on closing its border with Spain, (3) got into quarantine much earlier than other countries (e.g. same day as France, although France was already infected) and (4) the Portuguese behavior, which is to observe the law and follow the government recommendation. Further, Portuguese Government has announced several programs to support both business as well as work people early on, which easy the mind of the population. Nevertheless, we expect to have some medium to severe impact on the economy, since Portugal has a great dependency on tourism, which we believe will decrease this year. However, it is expected though that those tourists that would still have funds to travel this coming summer, would prefer Portugal over Italy, France and Spain, for obvious reasons. BTW, summer is expected to help soften the spread of the virus.
Administratively, Portugal is split into District (18), Counsel (Municipalities) and Parish (e.g. District: Lisbon, Counsel: Mafra, Parish: Ericeira). Under current quarantine order (which is a mild order), several counsels have basically advised citizens not to cross border with other counsels. Although civil construction is not included in the quarantine decree order, this particular cross border advise has generated some logistic challenge as most of the workers on the constructions we have do not live in the counsel the constructions are. We have worked out an legal authorization to overcome this block. Nevertheless, the wives of several workers have imposed their own house quarantine order. These two items combined have decreased our work force.
Despite the above, I am happy to say that we have continued the constructions - slower in the houses but good speed on the buildings. We have now 5 house (2 in Bicesse and 3 in Penedo) that are entering the final stages with finishing being selected now. Also, as marked has slowed, we are obtaining good prices for products that are on the shelf, but experiencing slow delivery of products made outside Portugal (e.g. windows and doors for example). We expect to be within or even below budget on the houses.
As for the real estate market, we have noticed that some used houses are coming for sale, as a result of people concerned with loosing jobs and trying to catch the current price. Articles suggest that although we might have a decrease in prices that would not be as big as in the prior economic crises. Our prices are dated 2018, so we shall be ok. This is an area to observe and act as we go.
That is it for today. I invite you to browse the site, check the photos and please let me know if you find something that does not make sense or have an idea to improve the site.
Happy and Holly Easter!
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