The Home-Office trend is increasing demand for more flexible office spaces, but unfortunately there are few in the current real estate market. The change that the pandemic has brought to the office's daily work by moving it into the home itself has generally made it difficult to lease office spaces. So we can talk about a so-called pause in the office property market, because, let's be honest, the pandemic has led to clear uncertainty in business planning. The number of lease applications has decreased significantly due to Corona. It's like a lot of companies pressed the pause button. The uncertainty still existing between entrepreneurs and health authorities and international and national politicians is still uncertain whether further waves of infection can lead to further blockades and thus again influence the economic situation. It opens up the discussion about a central issue that would be there, how and to what extent the pandemic will change the world of office work in a lasting way, or has already done so.

Over the past year, the demand for villas and housing outside of town and city centres has risen significantly. According to idealista.com, between April 2020 and April 2021 villas made up 37% of the total number of property purchases in mainland Portugal, up from 33% the previous year. This means that 4 out of 10 of all properties purchased during the pandemic were villas, a rise of which hadn’t been seen before the onset of the pandemic.