Porto's presence at MIPIM reinforces investment in housing

New job opportunities, more investment in the housing sector and attracting international companies to the region are the focus of the municipality's presence at the world's largest real estate fair in Cannes. In view of the demand that Porto has shown among investors, the Councillor for Economy makes an 'extremely positive assessment' of the participation in MIPIM.

With 'very important meetings with new geographies', Ricardo Valente admits that 'things have been going very well from the point of view of investors who have sought us out as a city'.

Recalling that this is an event attended by around 25,000 people, 'who are decision-makers', the Councillor for Economy goes on to say that ' we basically stumbled across investment opportunities'.

Even though this is not 'one of the easiest years from the world economy's point of view', Ricardo Valente believes that 'it's very difficult to stop coming because the opportunity scale is unique'.

As part of the Greater Porto mission, which unites the city with the municipalities of Vila Nova de Gaia and Matosinhos, the Councillors for Economy and for Urban Planning and Housing adopted a strategy that took them to MIPIM: the attraction of around 10 billion euros of foreign direct investment in the region by 2030 (more than 100 million euros in this edition alone, to surpass last year's result), as well as of investors in the real estate market, that will enable the creation of 45,000 new homes – built or rebuilt – in the three cities.

'It's undeniable that Western Europe's problem is housing and one of our priorities is attracting investment for housing', Pedro Baganha emphasised, quoted by Jornal de Notícias.

The Councillor for Housing acknowledges the need to 'increase the housing supply', while recalling how, in the previous MIPIM edition, 'the three municipalities were responsible for more than 6,000 licensed and built homes'.

Greater Porto as an example of cooperation beyond competition

In addition to housing, the Councillor for Economy said that the more than 10 billion euros they are looking to raise will also be channelled into different real estate area, including logistics, industry and hospitality.

Ricardo Valente believes 'Greater Porto is a winning project because it is an aggregator' and 'an example of the capacity for co-operation between municipalities'. 'It's such an important example that our colleagues in Lisbon and on the south bank of Lisbon are discussing our model of aggregation, continuous image, ability to sell ourselves together', he adds.

Bear in mind that Porto's ability to attract foreign direct investment has once again been recognised by the Financial Times, which once again placed the Invicta among the European Cities and Regions of the Future.

For one week, the world's biggest real estate event will be attended by around 90 countries, more than 300 stands, 22,500 representatives and more than 6,500 investors. In addition to the municipalities of Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia and Matosinhos, Greater Porto included several companies of the sector in the regional delegation.