Portuguese millennials revolutionizing housing market through flat shares

The younger generations in Portugal are revolutionizing the housing market, with high rents meaning millennials are sharing apartments, local newspaper Diario de Noticias reported on Friday.

Millennials in Portugal are fascinated by new homes, appreciate urban centers and do not want to be tied to a mortgage credit, the report revealed. Around 65 percent opt to rent an apartment over buying a property when leaving their parent's homes.

Last year, around 20 percent of sales and letting transactions carried out by real estate agency Century 1 were with clients born after 1980.

Figures showed that the majority of people of this generation move to a rented home and that 78 percent of people look for monthly rents no higher than 600 euros (637.1 U.S. dollars).

Low salaries mean people cannot afford to pay more for rent, and a preference of urban centers mean many youngsters opt to flat share.

"We have noted that after university, flat sharing is prolonged into the second phase of their (young people's) lives," said Ricardo Sousa, Century 1 administrator for Portugal.

According to a report by Eurostat, four out of ten persons in the EU28 in 2015 lived in flats. The proportion of people living in flats was highest in Spain (65.9 percent), Latvia (65 percent) and Estonia (62.6 percent). Endit