We almost always talk about the price of houses, housing loans, foreign investors, taxes or successive measures to increase supply. All these issues are important, but they represent only one part of a much more complex reality. Portuguese real estate has changed profoundly in the last two decades; however, we continue to analyse it with the same tools and the same arguments as in the past. Perhaps one of the most interesting observations I read recently was made by the founders of Bazalto, when they stated that the market has become institutionalised. It is a seemingly simple phrase, but it explains a huge transformation.

For many years, real estate was dominated by small developers, private investors and family businesses. Today we find institutional funds, family offices, international investment platforms, specialised companies, logistics operators, build-to-rent projects, student residences, senior living and a new generation of investors who look at Portugal in a very different way.

At the same time, the very role of real estate in the economy has completely changed. For decades, we saw this sector as a consequence of economic growth. Today, exactly the opposite is starting to happen. It is increasingly the economy that depends on real estate. Whenever I write about data centres, artificial intelligence, industry, space economics, defence, logistics or renewable energy, I inevitably end up coming back to the same point: all these activities need land, energy, infrastructure, planning, licensing and housing for their workers. When an international company decides to set up a factory, a technology centre or a logistics platform in Portugal, it no longer just asks how much the land costs or what the tax burden is. It asks if there is energy available, if there is transport, schools, hospitals, housing for employees and, above all, how long it will take for the project to be operational. Investment no longer chooses only countries. It started to choose ecosystems.

It is precisely here that I believe that the public debate remains stuck in the past. We remain excessively focused on buying and selling houses when we should be discussing real estate as a strategic infrastructure of the Portuguese economy. Housing will naturally continue to be a priority, but it is no longer enough to look at this sector only through the price per square metre or the evolution of interest rates. Today, real estate directly influences the country's ability to attract industry, develop technology, grow in the digital economy, expand logistics, produce energy or create qualified employment. Without prepared land, there are no factories. Without power, there are no data centres. Without housing, there is no talent. Without territorial planning, there is no investment. And without investment, there will hardly be sustainable economic growth.

We, professionals in the sector, must also make some self-criticism. For too long we have communicated real estate only through transactions, prices or trends in the residential market. But the sector has become much more comprehensive. Today it talks about competitiveness, sustainability, mobility, innovation and regional development. It talks about Portugal's ability to respond to the challenges of the new economy and to create conditions for national and international companies to choose our country to invest.

Perhaps the time has come to stop looking at real estate only as a market. Real estate has become one of the main platforms on which Portugal's economic future is built. And as long as we continue to debate this sector with the vision of twenty years ago, we will be missing the opportunity to understand the true role it plays in the development of the country. Because real estate is no longer just an investment destination. It is, increasingly, a strategic infrastructure for national competitiveness. And perhaps that is precisely why the debate must also evolve.