Government places Estamo under the responsibility of Finance and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing

Estamo, a public company that manages the State’s real estate assets, will come under the responsibility of Finance and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing. The information was released by Miguel Pinto Luz, Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, who closed the Special Report – Real Estate Challenges in 2024 which took place this Tuesday, in Lisbon.

“I come to give you the guarantee that, in the next two weeks, the Government will present the measures that it considers fundamental in Housing. I am one of those who understand that it is men and women who make places. In the Ministry of Housing, this Government gave a clear signal, which was within the Government’s framework, to place Estamo under dual supervision between Finance and Housing”, he said.

The minister also highlighted four measures that he considers fundamental to solving the country’s housing problems: self-promotion and the transformation of the school park into public construction; the absence of ideological prejudices towards the private sector; the support of mayors on the issue of licensing; and revisiting cooperatives.

“We know that the policies implemented in recent years have not worked. There was a concern about finding culprits and turning one against the other. Don’t count on us to pass the blame. We are looking for efficiency to enable the offer for young people”, he stated, highlighting that the country cannot have the illusion that the housing crisis will be resolved overnight.

“We have to find solutions together. It is essential to increase supply. We will introduce transformative measures in the coming weeks. We will revoke the measures that we consider to be unfair, namely Local Accommodation. We will dialogue with local authorities and investors. The revocation of the forced lease that we will implement as soon as possible.”

Miguel Pinto Luz announced that the Government will look at Simplex and understand what can improve. “It is normal for there to be obstacles in an innovative process. We will act in the short term on a glaring bottleneck in the PRR. We have to improve the system in its different aspects. The IHRU has been our concern with everything to do with the PRR”.

Finally, the minister also noted the need to change fiscal policy, particularly for the youth segment and to debate the new construction code and align market expectations with various target audiences. “The sector has to speak eye to eye and understand the needs of the various segments”, he highlighted.