“The exemption from IMT and Stamp Duty for young people in the acquisition of their first permanent residence has already benefited 36,378 young people,” revealed the Ministry of Finance to the deputies of the PS parliamentary group, after insistence on access to the information.

The Ministry overseen by Joaquim Miranda Sarmento also indicates that, “by the end of April, 25,275 properties had been acquired under this regime, with the average value per property being 190.9 thousand euros.”

The number shows an increase in relation to the data released in March, which indicated that 25,933 young people had benefited from the measure, with the number of houses acquired reaching 18,213 and with an average value of the houses sold at 189 thousand euros.

The measure, in force since August last year, covers young people up to 35 years old and stipulates the total exemption of both taxes for houses valued up to the fourth IMT bracket, that is, up to 316,772 euros, and a partial exemption for properties up to 633,453 euros, to which the rate corresponding to this bracket (8%) applies. To be eligible, young people also cannot have been considered dependents for income tax purposes in the year in which the house was purchased.

According to the most recent data from the Bank of Portugal, released at the end of May, in the first quarter, just three months after its launch, the mechanism that allows young people up to 35 years old to finance the entire value of their home accounted for 9% of the number of contracts and 13% of the total value of new mortgage contracts.

The data from the banking supervisor also indicate that the banking institutions that joined the protocol to access the public guarantee for the purchase of young people's first homes have already used 10% of the maximum amount available between January and March. “However, the use of the guarantee varied between institutions; some used more than 30% of the allocated limit, while others did not reach 5%”, he highlights.

The portrait drawn up by the entity led by Mário Centeno also reveals that metropolitan regions lead the use of the support. Most of the properties acquired under this scheme were located in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, with the municipalities of Sintra, Vila Nova de Gaia and Seixal standing out as the most sought-after. The average value of contracts with collateral reached 190 thousand euros, higher than the 173 thousand euros of contracts of eligible borrowers who did not use the collateral.