For many wealthy Brazilians, Portugal is the new Miami

Brazilian business man Ricardo Bellino He knows how to recognize a good deal when he sees it. After living in Miami for more than a decade, he decided to move to the other side of the Atlantic, Portugal, where a booming real estate market and tax incentives are attracting a growing number of wealthy Brazilians.

The 53-year-old billionaire, who made his fortune in the model company, bought a house last year in an exclusive complex near Lisbon, where he plans his next venture. In Portugal, Bellino will benefit from a fixed 20% income tax rate and may be entitled to a tax-free pension upon retirement.

"It was an opportunity to live in a tax haven that is not an island in the Caribbean"said Bellino, whose grandfather was Portuguese. "We are in Europe, in a country that has experienced a renaissance in recent years."

Portugal set up tax incentives ten years ago to attract wealthy foreigners to southern Europe. In 2012, a year after applying for an international bailout, a nation of 10 million residents began offering residence permits to non-Europeans who purchased real estate valued at more than 500 000 euros (560 000 USD).

Portugal's incentives for wealthy immigrants contrast with US President Donald Trump's measures to limit immigration, although he proposed last week a "merit-based" system in order to favor skilled skilled immigrants

In Portugal, the explosion of tourism and real estate has followed the incentives for immigration and has allowed the economy to experience its strongest growth in almost 20 years in 2017. It has also caused discomfort among Portuguese, excluded from the housing market in accordance with new demand pushed prices

The French, which represent one of the heaviest tax burdens among the 34 developed countries, were the main international buyers in Portugal in 2017 and accounted for 29% of foreign investment in real estate, according to the Association. agents and professionals in the sector. Real estate sector of Portugal. Brazilians, who speak Portuguese, took second place with 19% of total foreign investment, followed by British with 11% and Chinese buyers with 9%.

Brazilians are rapidly gaining ground and are already the largest foreign investors in real estate in the capital, Lisbonto the south and Porto to the north.

"They buy homes everywhere," said Luis Lima, head of the Lisbon-based agents' badociation. "These Brazilians are completely different from those who came to Portugal in the past, they belong to a higher social clbad."

While immigration between Brazil and Portugal, its former colonial power, has moved in both directions depending on economic booms and troughs, The wealthy Brazilians have been favoring the young, modern and international of Miami for decades. In Portugal, they saw a melancholy country, nostalgic of its glorious past. This characterization is reflected in the Portuguese love for fado, a national musical genre marked by loss and sadness that contrasts with the Brazilian samba, of more African influence.

"I came to Portugal for the first time in the 1970s and I was surprised by the poverty that there was"said Claudio Madureira, a 70-year-old Brazilian pensioner who moved to Portugal last year after the closure of his construction company. "My memories of Portugal were like pictures on a black and white television screen."

All of this began to change after Portugal completed its international rescue program in 2014 and that a tourist and real estate boom turned entire cities into boutique hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants, luxury apartments and shops. intended for international tourists. Tax incentives and the perception that Portugal is a safe place (ranked fourth in the 2018 World Peace Index) have been icing on the cake for many Brazilians.

Brazil is one of the countries in the world where homicide rates are the highest, with an average of 175 deaths per day in 2017, according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, a non-governmental organization that collection of crime data. Violent crime rates have decreased since 2018, a breakthrough that began before the election of President Jair Bolsonaro, without that preventing him from claiming merit. He also did not convince many Brazilians to return.

"I have lost all hope that things improve in Brazil" Madureira, who now plays tennis on weekdays with other Brazilian expats in Cascais, a coastal town near Lisbon.