Having live 12 years in Marbella having owned a Spanish based Real Estate company and now Living in Portugal about to open a Portuguese real estate business I’d like to think I can be objective on this subject. One of my other companies deals in 2^nd Passports and Residency programs throughout the world so I can also look at this from an immigration point of view as well as a lifestyle property point of view.

So if we start by looking at the Lifestyle and the properties you can buy I would say Spain and Marbella comes out on top but this is a very subjective judgement. In reality if you are looking from a lifestyle point of view it is where you want to spend your time that really matters. So the fact that you probably get more for your money in Spain wouldn’t really matter if you love Portugal more than Spain.

If you look from an Immigration and Golden Visa point of view Portugal completely wipes the floor with Spain. Firstly, Portugal Immigration is just much more friendly than Spain. Secondly the cost, whilst both countries have a 500,000 entry level (Portugal has lower levels but that is another subject all together) In Spain its per person and in Portugal its per family. So in most cases unless you are single it will actually cost you a Million Euros or more in Spain compared to 500,000 in Portugal. Thirdly and most importantly is the rules of how long you have to stay in the country if you want to convert your Golden Visa to citizenship then the amount of time you have to spend in Portugal is considerably less than in Spain and the Nationality test is considerably easier in Portugal.

When it comes to investment returns in the relevant property markets Portugal again wins hands down due to the fact that the property market is booming and probably the best property market to invest in Europe at this time. Also buying costs are about half that of Spain depending what type of property you buy. So the ROI is always likely to higher in Portugal compared to Spain.

So if your basing your decision on Investment, value for money and future Citizenship Portugal wins the day however if you are only interested in Lifestyle it could well be Spain comes out on top. I personally love Andalucía so can fully understand form a lifestyle view why someone would choose that over Portugal.

So the answer to the question poised is Portugal with the very large Caveat that if you love Spanish Lifestyle more then you should pick the country that gives you the best lifestyle option.

If you want to know more detail about the European Golden Visas or have questions about points raised in this article, please feel free to reach out to me at help@graystuart.com