It is not about jealousy of the rich it is a question of prioritising quality life for everyone. What is left for local people? Cement neighbourhoods, no urban planning, tiny hovels with no functional design for living. Everything is geared towards wealthy foreigners or drifters. In the Algarve (and most of the coast line) it is a constant merry-go-round of short term rentals which are advertised as "annual". Housing is horrendous - the worst in the EU, people die of cold in the winter inside their hovels, there is no real rental market for locals as prices are geared towards Northern European standards (while local salaries are the lowest in the EU). It is not "bitterness" Billy - look outside your bubble for a few minutes and see how locals live in Portugal. House prices decreased in Portalegre (-5.9 percent), Bragança (-1.7 percent), Guarda (-1.2 percent) and Ilha do Pico (-1.1 percent). There have however, been some areas of Portugal that have seen prices fall over the past year. Of the districts analysed by idealista, the highest increases were seen in Vila Real (19.9 percent), Ilha da Madeira (17.4 percent), Évora (14.7 percent), Setúbal (12.5 percent), Aveiro (12.4 percent), Lisbon (10.2 percent), Leiria (9.5%), Porto (8.4 percent), Faro (7.9 percent) and Santarém (6.6 percent).
At the other end of the scale is the Autonomous Region of the Azores (€1,044 m2), the Alentejo (€1,088m2) and the Centre (€1,168m2), all being the cheapest regions in Portugal. The next most expensive area is the North (€1,914m2) followed by the Autonomous Region of Madeira (€1,872m2). “Normally the first thing clients say is ‘we are just an ordinary family and we just want a nice house,’” says Mr Saumarez Smith.Over all Lisbon continues to be the priciest place to buy a property in Portugal with property averaging €3,252m2, while the Algarve continues to also be a popular choice, pushing prices up to €2,527m2.
For instance, whereas previous generations hid their kitchens at the back of the house or below stairs, today’s lords of the manor like to cook and, according to Mr Saumarez Smith, “want the kitchen in the best part of the house, where they will enjoy good views.”Īnd though such grand designs could hardly be described as modest, their owners still claim to be. Mr Adam likes to lay out several plans for his clients, but “they almost always choose the Palladian one.” Some people regard such houses as mere pastiches, but they are not carbon copies. The new houses’ architecture usually offers more than a nod to that of their forebears. The paucity of ancient piles on the market, and the hefty heating bills and musty smells they come with, make building from scratch a good option. They are, he says, “people of extremely fine taste, who have found themselves by good fortune to have lots of cash.” Christopher Boyle, a lawyer who helps newcomers obtain planning permission, likens them to “the nabobs of the 18th century”, who were keen to show off the riches of empire. His home in North Yorkshire will be the county’s largest house for 200 years. Steve Gibson, a welder’s son who made money in logistics and now owns Middlesbrough Football Club, is typical of the new breed. His clients include self-made financiers, celebrities and Russians. “The peak of a lot of people’s ambition is to have a country house, and that applies not just to British people, but to people coming to Britain,” says Robert Adam, a classical architect who designed Lea House in Surrey (pictured), is currently building two country houses and has three more on order.
Just as the status symbols of old were often built for that generation’s nouveaux riches, so are today’s new-builds.
“Back in the 1980s if you wanted to build a good-looking classical building…there were about two or three architects in the country who could do that,” says George Saumarez Smith, an architect. Rebounding demand has prompted a steady supply of architects for whom being a classicist is no longer shameful. Stonemasons’ chisels are once again chipping away at the top of long driveways as a new generation of monied Britons commissions its own stately homes.