@@EconomicsExplained thank you for your Professionalism in this economic analysis that has made sure to steer clear of politics of Europeans “migrant question”
Portugal is in a unique situation where it gets alot of digital nomads and third world immigration whilst having low salaries for its cost of living. The nomads raise the prices of goods and housing, and the other immigrants ensure that wages are kept low, literally tugging the population on both sides and suffocating the average citizen
This comment should be at the top because it's 100% this. We are squeezed in the middle by the very rich foreigners that are buying up the country and by the non-Western immigrants that are keeping the wages low... rich getting richer and poor getting poorer!
It’s not unique at all, it’s happening all around the world, I am a digital nomad and I see that wherever I go. And believe me, most of the digital nomads, are nomads for a reason(guess which, their countries are fucked up), not on a whim
Não são os nomadas digitais que sobem o preco das casas tozé. Os nom dig são menos de 0.1% da populacao imigrante. A imigracao de terceiro mundo é que sobe o preco das casas porque alugam casas para 10/20/30+ pessoas. Há estudos sobre isto em praticamente toda a EU mas aqui na tuga à tabu de separar imigrantes nas estatisticas e a narrativa retardada da extrema esquerda sobre a habitacao é o mainstream...
Immigration from poor countries isn’t happening all around the world neither the amount of digital nomads that Portugal is getting. At the rate that it is going is quite unique.
Portuguese person here. I just want to add that the "affordable cost of living" is a myth (yes, completely). Its only "affordable" or "great" if you get salaries from much richer countries like Germany, The UK and the US. This is why so many of the workers are remote. If you actually get an average Portuguese salary, the cost of living is brutal and one of the worst in Europe after tax as well. The flood of much richer people coming to get salaries from elsewhere but enjoy our relative prices has made it so the average portuguese person simply can not live on their own with any quality superior to "horrible". My mother is a surgeon, she's past the age of doing night shifts, still does them yet struggles to take care of me (uni student) and my little brother (14) without needing physical and financial help from my almost 80 year old grandmother. Most people can expect to live with their parents up until their LATE THIRTIES and even when they leave the house, quality is sub-par at best more often than not. (Edit: more than 50% of my mother's wage gets discounted in taxes) This gets worse when you consider the non-western migration. Portuguese people get their hopes stolen by people who drive up prices due to their wealth, and then we get migration from countries full of people willing to work jobs for salaries and conditions much lower than what an average person would find reasonable. I know a very hard working mechanic who works 10 hours a day (sometimes 13) with tools that wouldn't pass inspection in nearby Spain only to get a pre--tax salary that can't be described as anything other than "average" (given the national context). Please stop with this language that even implies that our cost of living is somehow fantastic. Its one of the worst in Europe for people who live here. An 18 year old retail worker in the US will pocket more money after tax than I will with my master's degree in the area I will work in. I spend more (relative to the money i have) on groceries than my financial equivalent does in the average UK city. Living here is brutal, financially speaking. I will NEVER be able to afford even RENT or a house/apartment in a city on my salary, even if I got married to someone slightly better off than me. Much less actually afford to buy a home of my own. I'm luckier, since I don't intend to live anywhere that is described as anything larger than a "town", but I'm the odd one out and even still the cost to quality ratio is not looking good.
It's globalist neocolonlism through the back door. Replace the Portuguese on the high end skills , replace the Portuguese on the low end skills with super cheap slave immigrant labour. The only losers are the native population.
A minumum wage worker in the netherlands would classify as medium-high to high income here in Portugal. Meanwhile rent prices in Lisbon are the same as in Amsterdam. How does this make any sense?
I live in Porto. My parents have a small appartment in the center of the city. I had to move to the periphery for my first appartment (still inside Porto's metropolitan area) I am a software engineer. I have a decent salary, specially compared to the rest of the Portuguese population, and I still can't afford any appartment in the area I grew up in.
Your parents have benefitted greatly from the price of their apartment going then. One day you'll probably inherit that property, so overall you're benefiting
Tbh, local salaries in Portugal in SWE are a joke. I had some recruiters reaching out from the country, but they were laughed at and sent elsewhere. Better blame them
@@ctb1977 dunno about that. Its a good appartment, but its not that big and its getting old. Its getting to the point were it needs alot of investment, from exterior walls, to roof, to the elevator, etc.
The government needs to find a balance. Portugal depends heavily on foreign investment to fuel much of its economic success, but it needs to structure that success to create more housing and higher wages. Higher wages means more tax revenue.
It is immeasurable, the damage. But their customers exploited big weaknesses in those cities' bad rent control laws, lack of investment in more housing units, and regulations that failed to keep up with the changes. Also, the nimbyism (not in my back yard) of existing residents of those cities that blocked most attempts to construct new housing.
@@hemlock40 it is most certainly multifaceted and there is plenty of structural blame. Though Air BnB are the epitome of Tech Bro 'we're technically not X service so lol, should have stopped us' indifferent mindset
You guys have no idea how incredibly expensive Lisbon and Porto in Portugal have become in the space of just 7-8 years, to the point it's stupid. And with the gentrification of tourists and digital nomads, it seems like a totally different city / place to live compared with what was some years ago. My friends that still live there say they have no chance than to leave the country because they can't afford it anymore. I had to leave it as well so I could afford to just live by myself.
Bom bom era o Porto dos anos 2000 tudo a cair de podre e só putas, chulos e traficantes de droga. Eu lembro bem pois foi quando fui pra lá morar. Na altura toda a gente queria mudar pra Gaia, Matosinhos ou Maia. Agora que o pessoal investiu pra arrendar a turistas e nómadas digitais todos querem um apartamento no centro por 300€ 😂😂😂
The fact is that All migration to Portugal is damaging now, there's no houses, we've been thrown out of homes because of the digital nomads and at the same time cheap labor from the third world keeps wages extremely down because the average portuguese now has to compete with people who take ANY wage, driving wages down
Lol, now you see how great colonialism is when you are on the receiving end of it. Just wait until the new colonizer blame your culture for your own condition.
The centre of Portugal is empty, most villages have at least 50% vacant / empty houses. Here, Portuguese struggle to get workers because they say no locals want to work, our local olive oil press closed because people would not work or they just spent their first wages on alcohol and didn't come back
There's very little work in rural Portugal, and the work that is there is usually low wage harsh labour, and there's very poor amenities in the area. Latifundiários have ensured the area stays undeveloped for centuries
"affordable cost of living" LOL, here in portugal cost of living is only really affordable if you get paid other countries salaries or don't need to pay rent because housing is VERY EXPENSIVE
@@fs7699prices start easily at 1,000€ for old, poorly maintained buildings with humidity and insulation issues. According to the lastest data, the average salary in Portugal is 1,368€
Portugal is such a poor country! Restaurants are closing, shops are closing, shopping malls are completely empty, no cars in the streets, specially fancy ones, people dressed up poorly, with unbranded clothes, cell phones, computers, video game systems, no one buys these things in great number in Portugal, because, well Portuguese are so poor and miserable! - IRONY MODE ON.
You documentary is not part, but missed a BIG part of the problem. Digital Nomads is one, the NRH (low tax benefits for foreigns) is another, and the big elephant in the room that you missed, Portugal relaxed the rules in 2018 for non skill workers, and we have been flooded with people from India/Paquistan, they can work or stay here for a few years and then get a Portuguese passport (low language requirements) and from there you can go legal to the EU. its about 100k new people per year. it is funny that you did a video about Portugal immigration and left out the number one factor that is changing Portugal society.
Was thinking the same thing, the people in the comments complain about the people actually buying things in the country and helping put more money into the economy but won't say anything about illegal immigrants/ refugees living off the tax payers dime.
With regards to impacts on rents and house prices, wouldnt indian/Pakistani immigrants have less impact than these high income digital nomads, as they would enter the country with significantly less wealth ?
As a spaniard this is not new. The whole south of Europe is suffering the same kind of problem. That is why cities like Barcelona are banning Airbnb and other similar services, because of their impact in the housing market. I think we europeans should reconsider the effects of over-tourism and digital nomads for the local populations and act accordingly on a personal level. Choose hotels before airbnbs, choose destinations with sustainable tourism policies in place, choose places that are not overcrowded. Travelling somewhere "cheap" might look like a great idea until you start to think why actually that place is so "cheap".
To be fair, we don't have any other people to vote for. All of them make the same promises, all of which are conveniently forgotten once they are elected. We also have a problem with so many political parties attempting to get over the others so nothing gets done.
It's happening everywhere. Try buying a home in Paris, London, Rome, Copenhagen...or most of the UK, or France or anywhere. Homes are now a commodity first, a place to live a poor second. There's rich folk with asset portfolios full of homes. They don't care that means homes are not affordable, only that their 'stock' goes up in value. They suck up new builds, and grab land. That's the truth. Unless something is done to stop them or curb their activity things will get worse. Taxing non domicile owners is one way of limiting what they can get out of it.
Exactly. Its the same everywhere. Especially since Covid when Governments handed out hundreds of billions to the rich who just used that money to buy the safest assets around:- housing stock. Governments all over Europe and North America need to get a grip on this issue otherwise we will very soon be returning to a form of neo-feudalism.
The housing problem in Portugal is beyond its capital, Lisbon, so your comparison is a bit off the mark. Even small towns in the interior are priced as much as 80% the minimum wage. People cant afford a rent let alone buy a house...
i've always said use it or lose it. so many properties are left empty for decades that could be put to use, and end up as a ruin. many years ago many europeans used to say that a house was somewhere to live and not be treated as a commodity. that wasn't the case in the UK where for decades a house was treated as a tradeable asset, and people constantly buying a house, upgrading it and selling within a few years to realise a profit. a favourite topic of conversation was the weather, but now its "do you know how much my house is worth?".
blaming the rich is the whole reason you are poor asf if only rich people could afford the house then the prices would fall because there are not that many rich people housing prices are based on what a average family is willing to pay for a house and how many houses there are either there are too little houses or to many foreigners/tourist renting houses for a high price wich means housing prices go up because you can earn more by renting houses, wich can be fixed by the government, by lowering immigration or making renting laws. blaming the rich is just easy and stupid, there will always be people willing to buy houses to rent them, wich is also needed for tourists and students, its a government issue. just search why are housing prices high in ..., its never oh cause rich people, this is just something you just made up.
It’s not only Airbnb, but real estate moguls who buy up buildings in all European cities to manipulate the housing prices. If you walk in any bigger city in Europe and just look up in the center of the city, most of the flats are abandoned and standing empty. We have to regulate the amount of properties that a person/company/hedge fund can purchase…
@lao-ce8982 you can't manipulate prices in a free market. The Portuguese government is corrupt and stupid. The Portuguese people are very lazy. They don't construct enough apartments so there is a lack of real estate.
I would be ok with them purchasing a lot, if the laws penalised those that keep their property empty. Like you are obligated to rent the property long therm, if not it is taxed with unbearable taxes
Brother, you don't always hit the mark. Still I always loved videos and understand it comes with territory. But this is horrible. You missed so much and the situation is so dysfunctional. Our banking system has constant failures, growth is stagnant for years. The migration waves out of Portugal from people who study there. The influx of people - yikes man.
The real problem with immigration is not digital nomads coming in and increasing house prices. I’ve not met a single one in my city, yet house prices are sooaring. Migth create a problem in Lisbon but not in the rest of the country. The real immigration problem is with low skill migrants coming in form india and former portuguese colonies, and they are arring in the hundreds of thousands every year, obviously creating high demand in an already low supply housing market Furthermore if we are going to accept immigrants, we should accept digital nomads that come here and create startups, not 3rd world low skill migrants which are perpetuating low pay in all sectors, from tourism in the algarve, agriculture in Alentejo and manufacturing jobs in Northen and Central Portugal. Before we were having labour shortages, employers were going to have to increase pay and conditions to attract workers. The migrants now come here and accept anything for minimum wage
They live like rats incide a single apartment, in my area they even found recently a warehouse full of them. Because they live together like the slums and don't actually mind, they end up saving a lot of money that later ends up being sent to family back home, where grows exponentially in value due to their crappy currency. Locals cannot compete much less demand higher wages and end up having to accept low pays at the risk of being unemployed. Modern slavery at it's best...
@@PedroAlves-le2id Certo, já estavam a ficar caras, mas o problema extrapolou. Nunca vamos conseguir um equilíbrio entre oferta e demanda habitacional a este ritmo de entrada de pessoas
Is it just me or has your speaking speed increased over the years? I'm actually having trouble following your more recent videos since it goes too fast
Yes, EE, please slow down the video slightly. I’ve been watching the series since forever, and while I appreciate you not wasting my time by repeating information, I think we’re getting to the limit of comprehensibility
Portuguese here living in Prague. The minimum salary here is very rare and the average is around 1800€. But the salary I have here (which is closer to 4000€) and type of job and its benwfits is very difficult to get in Portugal. And even though I'm very much in the center of Prague, my rent is still quite affordable. In Portugal would be difficult to find a whole apartment to myself for that price, even in the peripheries, let alone the center.
The cost of living is making it impossible to live here, the prices are inline with more developed countries and adequate for these immigrants yet the Portuguese wage is terrible and very highly taxed, we earn after tax about 740€ yet to rent a small single bedroom in a shared apartment with utilities can be around 500€ it is forcing us out to make space for these immigrants.
@@redrosin99 I was born here,work here and study here. my parents live and work here since the 80s but I don’t know if i will be able to afford to move out
@haydnlainchbury5847 Unfortunately, this is what Brussels is aiming for: to destroy the nations of Europe. Brussels is in charge of migration policy in Europe. States are no longer independent. We are subject to the law of technocrats not elected by the people, who impose deadly policies. This is extremely serious. We need to leave the European Union and regain control of our borders, leave the euro and the CEDH.
How is it possible that the small influx of nomads using a visa scheme started in 2022 is blamed for a price increase trend which started around 2015? How does it make any sense? Feels more like deep-rooted problems (like what most of the world is experiencing now) but it's easy to get angry at a small number of people who make more money than us.
Small? Portugal is a 10M people country. These "small" changes have huge impact. And the rate of these changes is exponential eafch year. It's a small time frame, but maybe if you were intelectually honest you'd contrast it with Portugal back in 2017 even....and see the difference.
As a Brazilian that has Portuguese last names (Soares and Almeida) and no connection with Portugal. I have to tell you this: the country is small and it CAN NOT absorb a huge wave of immigration. Any big influx of people can change the country in a few years. You folks have to figure out what to do to preserve your culture.
@@ghfudrs93uuuPortugal já foi dominado pelos romanos, pelos bárbaros germânicos e pelos muçulmanos. Portugal é uma salada de frutas de influências e realmente não tem que se preocupar com "contaminação" cultural.
The economy is the key. Look at Japan, when the US controlled its economy. Japan went from highly traditional Japanese ways of life into a secluded lonely rat race of Westernizations. Look at the UK, after enslaving 2/3rd of the world and loosing it all within the last 75yrs and turned it into a size if a few Futball stadiums, It changed UK from anglo-saxons into multi-ethnic nation, just like the Roman empire.
On paper remote work should have the opposite effect on the housing crisis, if people don't have to commute to downtown the prices there would be lower with maybe a slight increased on rural areas or suburbia. That's why I'm all in with work from home schemes a few times a week or a few weeks per month. The problem is when a full remote work allows for travel and the inequity between countries displaces the local population. that's a real problem where I'm from up to the point where not even tourist will visit because no one can afford to live as a receptionist or bartender to cater to them because the discrepancies in rent prices
No, it's a problem within a country too. Lots of poor Midwestern states are trying to incentivize remote workers to promote the economy, ignoring that they're basically asking to create colonies in their cities where out of state workers with little interest in their communities move in solely for lower pricing.
@@chillin5703 Those colonies needn't to be bad: if those digital nomads spend enough in retail, bars and cafes local economy profits. If this colonies grow to fast and the housing sector can't keep up it's a problem.
@@gargoyle7863 local economic benefit is not good unless the local population is experiencing significant entry into the industries new wealth is bringing in. If not, you end up with stratification where locals end up being essentially service.
My friend worked as the person who HAD to FORCE the elderly at Lisbon to leave their houses. Why? Because turists need space to go get their luxuries! Yes, now you might get jobs, if you are good looking and have education! But get paid miseries anyways! In Europe, we have lowest salaries, and the average supermarket prices are 1.5 to 4x higher in comparison. We take it chill, as we do indeed have a fantastic country with many great welcoming people, so please support locally. Boycott the big companies that are destroying us, keep the little paradise we have left.
Using remote workers as scapegoats for rising living costs seems like low hanging fruit. Real estate prices are inflated in every major city in the world, Lisbon is just late to the party. In Detroit, the median home price has shot up 217% over the last decade. How many digital nomads are flocking to Detroit? This is just what happens when you treat homes like investments. Every homeowner and investor has interest in the value of their property increasing, even if it makes it harder for the next person to afford
Until 2015 I've never seen a single US citizen in Portugal. The rent of a studio was 350€ in city centre. Now there's Americans all over the place, they talk louder than Europeans so it's easy to notice. Rents are 1000€ for the same place. Of course it has its influence. In the city centre of Lisbon and Porto prices of entire buildings have gone up 500% in 10 year period
@@PureAlbania and this is because of the greed of the people who own the home. 14000 people aren't going to raise prices that much when there are over 500k people there
I'll never understand why housing prices are so underwhelmingly high. The population of my city is static for more than two decades (around 20k people) and still the city grew a lot, with lots of new neighborhoods all around the city and more houses than ever. Most empty plots in the city center are now new commercial buildings and the built area of the city has almost doubled in these 20 years. But the population is the same! It seems like most houses now have one or two people living there instead of whole families like it was before, maybe?
I'll tell you why: Offer and Demand. Rich(er) people go to poorer places. They can afford things that the population struggles to, so prices go up. When those prices go up, those richer people can still afford it, whereas the local population now can't. Repeat this over and over. Its made worse when the state hands out houses to people from the 3rd world that come here on dubious documentation (common). This limits the supply, but also increases demand as it establishes that this is something that can be done.
yup. i work for a large US software company and as someone who lives in the UK, we are a third or less in salary than a role which is US-based. not to mention india is a third of OUR salary too!
@@pluto8404what's broken is capitalism and the fact the development of the western world has relied on the exploitation of the rest of the world for centuries these "cost-of-living adjusted" salaries just make that fact obvious. The job obviously is worth to them the highest salary they are willing to pay for the highest COL location. If they wouldn't make profit paying that salary they wouldn't pay. They just want to find someone desperate enough they can exploit them more and squeeze even more profit out of the transaction.
There are a lot of factors that seem to be behind the fast rising of housing prices in Portugal, besides the fast digital nomads migration, such as: the quick downfall of the rate of house construction, the slow and ineffective judicial system in the area of housing/renting litigation, the centralization of population density in the Porto and Lisbon metropolitan areas, and others. For my portuguese mates or others interested in learning more i suggested the book Trancas À Porta- Desfazendo Mitos da Crise da Habitação. It's an easy and good read on the matter.
If Portugal required digital nomads staying more than one month to live in a smaller city, town or rural area that has been depopulated. Obviously, it would take more recordkeeping and government follow up, but doing so would yield economic benefits to scenic, but depressed areas.
Yep. But there's no political insentive for it. Money-making policies are hoarded by the big cities, since that's where wealthy decision makers of the main parties live, they only care about businessmen in their areas since that's who's in their ear. And regional politicians are dependent on centralized party powers for their massive campaign resources. Portugal needs to be regionalized on a structural basis, starting with banning politicians running for regions they don't have a life in.
That's a very good point! There could be an incentive for digital nomads to live in smaller towns, being the cost of living cheaper than major cities and as long as internet quality is high enough.
95% of them won't and would prefer to leave (which would actually be a good thing). They all have a short-term focused hedonistic lifestyle, they want to live in their English-speaking bubble and treat their host countries like Disneyland.
You could probably make such rural areas attractive to digital nomads with ease, but that would require good infrastructure and such improvements are massively expensive and often not even affordable for "rich" countries on a larger scale. Also encouraging small business culture would may help.
I'm living on Madeira Island, a small island that did promote the golden visa, so luxury houses increased demand and all the market, also the digital nomads. Comparing before covid you could rent an apartment on a good place for half of a minimum wage, so one of the things was a couple could afford to have their own place to live. Right now, with one minimum wage is hard to find one bedroom apartment.
Exactly, If they want to make things more affordable for locals they need to cut the tax rate for those locals. Getting rid of foreigners isn't the solution. The government is reintroducing those tax benefits for foreigners because their economy needs it with the current structure
Because you need to blame somebody and if you can put the blame on tourists instead of your own politics of course. But in fact it's all about supply and demand. Sure, Lisbon has 500k people, but how many homes are there available? Currently there are 12k homes listed, of which only 2000 or so below 300k purchase price. And therein lies the main issue. If you supply of cheap homes is low, the those will compete (and rise) for low incomes. Those 16k digital nomads are primarily competing for those lower priced houses and those prices are driven up. Add to that the rise of AirBNB in the previous decade and you have a perfect storm in the making. The answer is simple. Build cheap houses. Make sure your supply for cheap houses be kept on par with demand. That way all price brackets will remain fairly stable.
There is also the quiet people who are the offspring of baby boomers. There is a huge transfer of capital occurring between these generations. The result is that there is a group of middle aged people who have capital which is not reflected on their income. Easily half a million to a million is assets or bank deposits but with only an anual income of 50K euros. Remember that the price of housing is defined by how much down payment people can give, and then how much they are willing to pay monthly to pay off the mortgage. If you have 200 or 300K to put down, you can easily ask for 200K mortgage - sale price is then 500 to 600K.
I lived in Lisbon from 2017 to 2023 almost continously and before the arrival of the remote workers it was cheap,landlords would have "human" prices and groceries were very cheap(i spent max 150 a month going in luxury shops once a week). After 2021 landlords and prices were adjusted for the rich digital nomads,that you forget that paid little to no taxes, making it very difficult to live for local worker( avarage salary is 900) and the higher salaries are super rare as Portugal is known for cheap labour. While being there i saw a lot of xenophobia towards digital nomads e i myself had to leave as i could not find a human price with a good salary of 1100. Lisbon is starting to look like San Francisco with all the homeless and the violence
The young and educated Portuguese moved mainly to France and Germany so what is left are the uneducated, low skill and poor which contributed to racism and xenophobia, mainly towards migrants from Portugal's former colonies.
I'm skeptical that a few thousand immigrant workers with high incomes have skewed the housing market that much. I would assume it's more related to easy money during the early covid times. For investments, and people with a lot of disposable income buying real estate because they weren't spending it on travel and entertainment.
It's not about living, but owning and renting. That has nearly nothing to do with digital nomads either. How many are they in the whole world? All of them chose Portugal? And it's certainly not about underskilled emigration, since Portugal is the poorest country in Western Europe and over 80 or 90% of imigrants there come from former colonies, like Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, whose income is far under the average portuguese, driving migrants to the countryside, where living is also quite expensive (but not unaffordable). The thing is, about ten or fifteen years ago, during Passos Coelho government, Portugal aimed to atract foreign investiment by offering portuguese citizenship in exchange. That's a UE citizenship. Soon enough, a few thousand russian and chinese were able to buy half of Lisbon and Porto and most of them never set their foot in Portugal nor intend to. Everything comes with a price.
It's very frustrating to see people easily blaming CPLP citizens when we also come from a very poor background. CPLP citizens are also struggling. The key problem are the wealthy investitors from rich oligarchies like Russia and China that managed to buy everything and destroy the local environment.
Greate Video, but a slight mistake in your "Paid full days worked from home per week" graph. In the Europe section, Norway and Poland is on the same line skewing the positions of all countries in Europe.
Well it is the landlords who randomly decided to charge prices above what their apartments actually cost to make extra profit from workers/tourists. Just because you have new workers does not mean you have to increase the price, so ask them whats up
When there are more people, there is higher demand, therefore price has to increase. Otherwise the good would have to be distributed by morally strange standards. How can someone not understand basic economics is baffling.
@@gilson_jr_the market is not moved by natural forces. Its people that lower and rise the prices. Lests remind ourselves that economics is not a science, and the original name of the discipline is political economy
@@dcumbo Malta już has a lot of people coming in because it's very attractive to stay in due to the sea, weather, language, prices. But it's very densly built and there is a limited number of available places still. Landlords wouldn't be greedy if there was more apartments and housing available in the first place, because supply brings prices down.
The actual problem is unskilled immigrants who arrive as tourists and then stay illegally. In the case of Lisbon, it is true that digital nomads are driving up prices.
@@BusanDalint Not really, in Portugal, even if you are illegal, you can became legal by having a working contract. (now imagine a bad actor that would sell those contracts..)
@@BusanDalint previous government ended our agency that controled borders and migration process to create a new one that was massively underfunded and inneficient. Combined with the "open boarder" policies promoted by the extreme-left and socialists, we have now reached this breaking point were digital nomads are no longer coming as before and only low skilled migrants stay.
Tbf are there regions that are depopulating that are actually desirable to live in? People want to move to beautiful places where there is a vibrant local culture and not run down abandoned towns.
Why are the regions depopulation? What do you gain by foreigners buying up housing that will further price out and displace the locals? Why would you want to replace entire communities with foreigners instead of helping the locals rebuild and encouraging their kids to stay.
@@alecfranklin3827 I think the problem is at this rate, there won't be a 'vibrant local culture' left. Despite the possibility of it being unintentional, it invariably happens this way.
The regions that are depopulated usually lack basic necessities such as good Internet, nearby shops, accessible hospitals, frequent mail delivery, sometimes even water. No digital nomad wants to live in such a place, no matter how pretty or cheap it is.
There's another important factor distorting the housing market which wasn't mentioned in this video, second home ownership. Thousands upon thousands of apartments sit empty during the winter months in the Algarve whilst locals are unable to afford a primary home. Noticed this in Armação de Pera where I stayed in one of the high-rise apartment blocks in December. Virtually empty except for maybe one or two occupants.
Not the problem, lack of new supply is the real problem. Trying to solve the housing problem without building more homes is like solving "hunger" without producing more food.
Any hate towards immigrants is dumb. Disliking high immigration is perfectly reasonable, in that case you should direct your frustration towards policy makers. Not the immigrants
As a Portuguese living in Portugal, I think attracting high skilled, high paid foreigners is extremely good for the country, especially since most of these people are pure "profit" for the state. The problem with the cost of living, especially housing, is, in my opinion, more linked to bad policies from the government, applied to the local companies and population, in part still as a result of the 2007 financial crisis. Then there is the fact that no government since that time has thought that attracting new immigrants and tourists would increase demand in housing. There was basically no new construction for 15 years because the policies were completely wrong. There is a lot now, but far too late. Last, but definitely not least, Portugal has been, unfortunately, a country plagued by corruption and bad money spending.
I think this is a problem that must countries are now facing. Rapid urbanisation, over reliance on the market to provide investment in housing, treating housing as an investment, poor planning and policy. Everywhere now seems to have a housing crisis. It's very concerning to be honest. Blaming immigration seems to be scapegoating in order to avoid pressure on governments to do anything about it.
This all makes sense, but extreme gentrification is happening in cities all over the world, including the U.S., where housing in urban areas is no longer affordable for those providing services and basic goods.
Gentrification is just another term that showcases how migration increases inflation and the cost of living in an area. Gentrification critics usually have a myopic view of the subject, and choose to focus mostly on white migrants to urban areas and how they affect the cost of living in an area - it is mostly a US term, as I haven't seen it used in a non American context. But in reality, migration in general causes a spike in the cost of living as more people (demand) puts pressure on the scarce resources of a neighborhood. A small to moderate amount of migration is usually not that bad, its when migration gets to out of control levels that neighborhoods suffer from cost of living issues. In that regard, gentrification critics are not wrong, they are, as I said before, myopic in there criticism of migration. Furthermore, given unregulated migration's tendency to contribute to political destabilization, regulating migration is a political imperative to maintain a stable, healthy, democracy. For instance, we would never have a far right in most western countries if migration was well regulated. It is important than democratic nations engage in policies to maintain a politically stable environment that wards off the rise of extremism, and the mass migration policies of the past decade were a textbook example of what not to do if one wants to sustain a politically stable democracy. Also of note, that countries like Japan and South Korea don't have a far right anti-immigration party, because those countries never enabled mass immigration in the first place. Mass immigration politically irresponsible, and more so when it is unregulated.
@@TiagoNeves-l3k you could also look at the birth rate in Japan and the immigration rate in Japan. If a country has a declining population (like Japan) rents will decrease because demand is decreasing.
I´m from Portimão, a city that you showed through a drone shot in the beginning. It is awful here; people think that it is just Lisbon and Porto, but it is impossible to live in my own city on my own. Getting a job that pays more than the minimum wage (820 euros) is incredibly difficult as the tourism sector dominates the market.
You should probably mention that Portugal is investing a lot in surveying the seafloor around the islands they have claim to in the Atlantic. Their goal is that by mapping these and getting them accepted then their economic zone increases to a huge level (huge being an understatement), allowing them to take advantage of sea floor resources. This is a long term goal of the Portuguese government as a sort of safety net in 20-30 years.
The issue in Portugal is the greed of business owners and their self pity, where they pay these miserable salaries to their own benefit. There is no other way out than raising the minimum salary. If you can't pay it, go bankrupt. We need good businesses, not lousy ones.
Reminder that the term "expat" is a fancy way they have to say that they are immigrants. My dad came from the US to Spain, many years ago and that's where I grew up and live in. He hates the term expat and proudly says that he is an immigrant
Maybe he is an immigrant if he stayed that long. An expat is generally a temporary resident, normally for tax purposes. The foreigners living in Dubai are not immigrants, they can never get citizenship and only stay a few years
08:23 Currently, there are dozens of Russian ships in the Atlantic spying and detecting where these underwater cables are. Almost every week the Portuguese Air Force and Navy gives new images of Russian Boats to Portuguese media.
If America can cut the North Stream gas pipeline from Russia, the Russians figure they can do the same to the commnuication under sea cables from America.
These type cables are shadowed worldwide by both sides . They are targets just like natural gas pipelines . No population is safe from those type of disruptions ... ask the Germans 😏
As a Portuguese, I'm really happy I moved to Estonia. Which in and of itself is a country with a lot of inflation. But at least it's still possible to afford things. It's frustrating when the whole country is getting full of rich immigrants that drive up rents and property prices while not paying any taxes.
As an immigrant in Portugal, I pay a lot of taxes. A lot. And in a few more years I will be paying even more taxes when my cap expires. So how exactly do immigrants get away with not paying any taxes?
@@joaoramos8407 Do those benefits get offset by the economic activity, workers provided? I don't know. Portugal has a huge shortage of tradesmen, medical workers, skilled software workers, and hospitality. Wages are simply not keeping up with the costs of housing because there's not enough. I'm trying to understand what factors are to blame for that and just blaming immigrants is the easiest.
The digital nomads have almost no impact on the housing market outside of Central Lisbon. And Central Lisbon had been undesirable and unaffordable for Portuguese since the 1980's.that is why nearby cities grew so much in the 1990's, Barreiro, Loures, Almada saw a significative growth as lisboners moved there. The real problem in Portugal is the large number of Brazilians that move to Portugal, most of them with low skills, they insist on living on the "big cities", which puts a lot of pressure on the local housing market as well as employment market (real unemployment in much higher than the official statistics, because unregistered immigrants can't be counted as unemployed.) Fortunately the new government is going to change the migration law a bit, I don't think it will have much of an impact tho. however the overwhelming majority of the portuguese territory remains quite affordable, the issue is that most people just want to live in the "big cities" and Portugal only has a hand full of those "big cities": Lisbon metro area, Porto metro area. Coimbra, Algarve litoral. All the other cities and metro areas have less than 250 thousand people, thus considered too small for Brazilians and digital nomads, and even most Portuguese... As housing prices rise people will change their minds about "big cities".
Blaming 16k digital nomads for a 50% home price bump is just silly. Here’s a better explanation based on the same evidence: The regulations having been created to accommodate digital nomads specifically is a CLEAR sign of an over regulated country. That’s what’s hurting them. Both those for and against allowing digital nomads and short term rentals are proposing the wrong solutions. Push for less government instead. If immigration is an issue, cap it under a simple policy which doesn’t allow for government finagling. If tourists aren’t staying in hotels, stop over taxing and over regulating hotels and labor (much of hotel costs is labor and compliance). If there’s not enough housing, let the market build more and stop demanding the poor get new housing (affordable housing policies are mostly backwards).
@@talisikid1618 Why would you single out nomads for higher taxes? And, who is supposed to be taxing them more? Is the extra tax to discourage them or for some other reason?
@@nunyabidness3075they are not the only factor because this problem is thanks to multiple factors. BUT they are one of them and therefore, part of the problem
It may not seem believable but this is actually a huge problem in the USA as well. People in large cities in CA or Northeastern US like NY sell homes for millions of dollars and move to other states driving up home prices and COL. Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Montana are all victims of Californication. Not just the COL but massive shifts in political alignments as well. Even within CA there are a lot of areas that just 20 years ago were as affordable as anywhere else in the US but because of migration from the large cities are now so expensive the local population has to watch all their youth move away or be stuck renting outrageously priced apartments with no hope of ever owning a home. The jobs in these areas just dont offer the income to keep up. Of course some places like Denver or Colorado Springs have large tech sectors but that just causes more economic pain for anyone without a high end tech job. I get it, it's the way things work and I myself hope to migrate toanother counrty at some point even if only for a few years, but it is an issue that is painful for local populations and creates a lot of problems and sometimes animosity.
...the Californication of Washington State has gone on for so long that ppl now sell their million dollar homes in WA and move elsewhere. Everyone on the move.
It has echos of what happened to manufacturing and raw material sectors previously- lack of reinvestment and diversification. When the trends change, these places will end up burnt out husks as the new money tends to be focused in only a few areas (with infrastructure that is one-dimensional).
What you say is true. The main cause across the US and in Portugal is not enough housing. The reasons for not enough housing are many from policy makers to zoning laws to rent control laws, to residents blocking any new construction that might lower the value of their home. Houses used to cost less than a pair of cars in the US. Now they are an asset instead of a commodity.
@@hemlock40 in the USA we get millions of illegal immigrants yearly, or more, that is a MAJOR driver of the increased housing costs and stagnate wages. There will always be someone else willing to work for less, and there will always be someone else willing to pay more in rent.
I live on the West Coast of Michigan and we have a similar problem to this. Many folks from Chicago come to our beaches and drive up the housing/service prices
Far too many people go around thinking digital nomds live magical lives moving abroad whenever they want to wherever they want. The reality couldn't be further from that. Only a tiny fraction of remote workers will ever reach that level and a wage that will afford them that kind of life and benefits. Most people will never ever achieve that, just like most traders (in most places, it's less than 2-3%), don't live off the stock market, let alone getting rich off it.
@@floridaman7 You're glued to a computer screen during work hours in which you dont go the beach anyway. Once work is over for day (or before it started) it helps having a beach nearby
@@rand_kk I'm a software dev. The work really does end. I turn the laptop off at the end of the day and so does everyone else. It's a workplace culture thing. It's not the same in all companies but neither is the acceptance of fully remote work. My workplace currently allows only one day of remote work each week. The point is that your mileage will vary between companies and teams. It's likely that a person that wants to be a digital nomad and move semi-permanently to a different country will find a fully remote position with sane work-life balance so that such a move would make sense. In general, people in IT are allowed to have hobbies, time off or, heaven forbid, children. Or any other time-consuming activities outside of work. If you feel that you always need to grind just to keep up than it's time to switch jobs.
Digital nomads don’t just make money off the stock market. Actually few do, they have online businesses that came from the introduction of the internet and Covid showing just how much offices are redundant
When I visited Lisbon in 1977 and then again in 1980 it was a delightful place. Absolutely charming with very friendly people . I really hope it hasn’t changed much .
@@MookMineola Might as well have been a hundred years ago.. I was last there in 2011, and I can't believe what is happening there. Soon the Baixa (downtown) will be blocked off, and you will have to pay to enter. All those classic post 1755 earthquake buildings are all being coverted to hotels. The ground floors are reserved for chain retail businesses catering to tourists, and all mom and pop businesses that gave Lisboa it's unique character, have all been driven out. Property owners in Lisboa have cleaned up, everyone else has suffered.
@@nigelsmith3719 I wanted to visit Portugal next year. Never was there. If old Lisbon is gone, any recommendations wich (maybe smaller) cities to visit instead?
@@gargoyle7863 Old Lisbon is not gone, just harder to find among the hundreds of thousands of tourists. Avoid the hot summer months. The airport has gone way over capacity, it's a mess. Portugal is one beautiful place, so there are dozens of smaller cities and towns worth a visit, from North to South. I recommend channels here are on RU-vid like, POV-Tours Portugal, Zen Walks, Pro Walk Tours. Walkabouts just about everywhere shot in pristine 4k. It will be like you were there.
At 0:13 you said that an affordable cost of living was a major factor in attracting foreiggn workers. Later you say that the rising costs of living are increasingly a problem. What gives?
This video is not up to date. The tax provisions for digital nomads are coming to an end and so the trajectory could be quite different in a few years. For nomads coming now and in the future, they would be facing the prospect of getting taxed pretty heavily.
Portugal as a country is dead. Its only good if you are a digital nomad from the US or Germany or something of the sort. Or, if you are someone of retiring age wanting to spend the last years in an awesome climate. Portuguese have no chance at making it in portugal anymore. Im finishing my PhD and then 95% chance that I will look to leave. For every digital nomad the Govenrment attracts they loose 10 Portuguese youngsters. The last 20 years of government have been an utter failure without exception.
Digital nomads aren't the problem, the problem is the short-term rental housing (Airbnb and etc...). We should do as Barcelona and end this madness by 2028.
There were 10000 air bnb in Barcelona out of like 800k available homes it was drop on bucket . Truth is people need new housing u can ban all Airbnb, hotels, rentals but it won't fix much city probably need more houses nearer to jobs .
@@albuck3347but the digital nomads are a net positive so by doing what Barcelona does, it still allows digital nomads while containing housing price increase. The nomads are more likely to stay at hotels or in airbnbs where the host already lives
I think that in the case of Portugal, not talking about retirees is a big miss as it can be having a larger impact than digital nomads as they buy real estate to live and move with a TON of money. Retiring in Portugal was the latest and greatest until last year I believe, but by then the damage was done.
since you've been doing the global leaderboard for a while, maybe you should put the year that you ranked the county/state/whatever else, so that people can see what time that ranking is referring to
Is there a way to view all the countries in the economics explained national leaderboard through an interactive website of some kind? That would be pretty cool
Can't wait for you to do a video on Slovenia. Though I don't have high hope considering we are such a small country and don't have much happening economically.
As a portuguese that lives in Porto. I would say it's not only the digital nomads, but the university students rental market helps with the increasing in prices. In 2019 I could find a room for €200/month and a 2 rooms apartment for €600/month. Nowadays, at least €350 for the room and €900 for the apartment.
Raise taxes on migrants, lower them for locals and tax short term rentals. That should cool off things but the government has to reverse the open door policy.
Couldn't agree more. Trying to get even basic tasks done is insanely long winded and complicated. The levels of beuracracy are a massive drag on the economy. The Portuguese don't seem to realise how slow their system is and foreigners look at the way their government works (particularly local government) and shake their heads in disbelief. I love the country and the people are fantastic but their structures need serious reform and quickly.
I live in Algarve and the situation here is the worst. The tourim here raised the cost of living,prives of the houses is astronomical and the crime is raising very fast. Portugal its not the same, its a big mess in all sides.
I live in Portugal part time, soon to be full time and I believe The Portuguese worker needs to have more labor rights for example: many work work 50 to 60 hours a week for a flat rate contract, they would benefit with a 40 hour work week with over time paid after 40 hours, i.e. time and a half after 40 hours and double time on holidays. They are taken advantage of by business owners that are thriving while they struggle to have a decent lifestyle. this simple fix would do wonders for their livelihoods and bargaining powers related to employment. I owned a construction company for 30 years!
It doesn't make any sense at all. Lower GDP per capita than Spain, much lower nominal GDP, smaller and less impactful industry... Yet almost one full point above Spain in average?
They need a vacancy tax. Imagine if AirBnBs, hotels, motels and holiday homes were essentially forced to be occupied almost every day of the year. (Due to a prohibitively high vacancy tax). Low demand days would be rented at a loss. This would help restaurants and retail have a steadier customer base. Some investors wouldn’t want to rent at a loss on low demand days. They may convert places back to long term rentals or sell them to homebuyers. The avoidance of this tax would increase the efficient use of land, and properties on the land. Society would get more use from the labour and building material investment that created the properties. The aim would be for the government to get next to no revenue from this tax as investors would prefer to rent at a loss (on low demand days) or sell. Any revenue from the tax could be used to: * increase housing supply * improve internet, roads and public transport to homes and businesses * fund the improvement of home energy efficiency
This is not the immigrants fault. Its the fault of the crappy Portuguese government policies and such a low wage. This was a problem long before any immigrants came into Portugal. The Portuguese people need to stop blaming immigrants for their lack of affordable housing and start looking at the government for changes kmt
Digital nomads pay lower taxes than Portuguese citizens, who are completely burdened by the tax system. It's so unfair. I really regret voting for PSD. If I had known the government I was voting for prioritizes foreigners over local people, I would have chosen differently. We, the Portuguese, are overwhelmed by everything. Foreigners get priority. Montenegro is a liar, and I will never vote for PSD again. We only get a €4 yearly tax discount. What a joke. Portugal is going to lose all its qualified citizens at this rate. Because digital nomads don't work for local companies, they will never accept our crappy low salaries.
The low salaries has been the main problem for many years, that dont keep up with cost. I am an American immigrant, moved to central Portugal. I love it here and the people are great, but there are some cultural elements that are not good. Portuguese small businesses often do not want to hire more people even though they need them. They complain Portuguese people refuse to pay fair prices. They also say they don't trust new people to show up and work. I can tell you long stories about hiring Portuguese workers, how long they take to complete things, how they disappear for months. I pay well and on time, but i hear "talvez proxima semana" so often it is a joke now. I hired a Belgian man and he shows up every time, he keeps all his promises. I hired a Polish skilled carpenter that charged me twice the local labor rate and he was worth it. He showed up and his work is excellent. I also have several Portuguese companies that are wonderful. I am just saying that the problems are more complicated than immigrants. I am trying to be part of the solution.
@@hemlock40 Do not compare low skilled blue collar workers to the many exceptional white colar one's we have that are leaving by the TENS of thousands outta here. The middle class here is DEAD.
You are putting too much stock on one political party or candidate to solve a global problem. Are you serious? That's jsut your shortsightedness. As if the other political candidates in Portugal provided better alternatives.Don't be thick. This is 2024. It's like people don't know politics.
In the past six years, Portugal has secured the landing of several international submarine cable systems: Ellalink and Olisipo, which connect Europe, via Portugal, to South America; 2Africa (landed in 2023) and Equiano (operational in 2025), which link Africa to Europe; Medusa, which connects Portugal to the Mediterranean and the East, near the Suez Canal; and Nuvem, which will connect Europe, via Portugal, to the USA, expected to be operational in 2026. Additionally, the Pisces initiative, a European Union project, is under discussion to connect Ireland to Portugal and Spain, complementing the international cables in the south with those in the north of Europe. These initiatives strengthen Portugal's position as a strategic telecommunications hub.
I was lucky to be in Lisbon 10 years ago as a tourist. I went there earlier this year (staying in a hotel, not Airbnb) and was surprised at how DIRTY it was. You can just see how the vitality of the city has gone downhill and it's so sad.
From $2K to $45K that's the minimum range of profit return every week I thinks it's not a bad one for me, now I have enough to pay bills and take care of my family.
Digital nomads are a net positive for the country the problem is that the positives and negatives aren’t distributed equally so some people only feel the benefits and others only feel the negatives. The solution is to have the government average things out a bit.
The graph at 3:03 does not make any sense, there are 15 countries listet in Europe, but 16 graphs
3 месяца назад
Except there are 16 countries, but Norway and Poland are listed on the same line... Also, here's the original report, which shows slightly different values: wfhresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/GSWA-2023.pdf
You’ve totally missed the mark, as most observers do. The majority of real estate in Portugal is empty, due to inefficient regulation and golden visa legacy (which has nothing to do with remote workers). That’s lead to the ongoing rental market disaster. Wealthy Portuguese owners have reaped the rewards at the expense of the less fortunate, and are now gaslighting.
My experience in Portugal has been amazing , if you work with dropshipping, digital marketing this place is awesome , I discovered I had Portuguese ancestry so I came here to wait for my citizenship , I lived in many countries but Portugal is one of the Bests , people from all the parts of the world are here the food and entertainment are cheap also
