According to ECO, The share of young people in home loans increased again last year. Data from the Bank of Portugal shows that 42.7% of people who applied for a loan to purchase a home in 2024 were between 18 and 35 years old, an increase of two percentage points compared to the previous year.

This development comes in a year in which the Government launched several measures to support young women in purchasing a home, including exemption from IMT and also the public guarantee line - although the latter only came into effect at the beginning of this year.

In terms of the amount contracted, the increase in the weight of young people was more evident : 44.5% of home loans were granted to people aged between 18 and 45, reflecting an increase of 3.4 points compared to 2023.

On the other hand, the weight of the age groups between 36-45 years and 46-55 years in the home loan market decreased, both in terms of people and amounts.

Data on the sociodemographic characterisation of people who took out credit with resident banks also show that the weight of foreign debtors in the total number of people who obtained new credit also increased: it went from 13% in 2023 to 14% in 2024. “In these two years, half of those debtors had Brazilian nationality”, notes the Bank of Portugal.

A large proportion of contracts were concluded by people residing in Greater Lisbon (22%) and the Porto Metropolitan Area (18%).

Overall, 90,000 housing credit contracts were signed last year, 32% more than in 2023, involving 138,000 people, according to the banking supervisor.