An estate agency based in Portugal has found a great new way to ensure that people wanting to invest in Portuguese property can get the funding they need to live the dream. Bank lending in Portugal, like much of the rest of the world, is very tight as banks try to protect themselves against lending to people who can’t repay money.

Securing a bank loan is currently the main issue that prevents people from buying their dream property in Portugal and as a result, more and more are looking for alternative ways of securing the money. “The demand is there but financing is still proving difficult. However, recently we have seen a few savvy developers offering an alternative method of funding to avoid the stumbling block of acquiring finance from the bank, thus helping to get the property market moving,” managing director of Infinito Real said Stephen Anderson.

“The idea involves buyers putting down an approximate 30% deposit and then spreading the remainder of the payment to the developer over a period of years agreed with the developer and depending on the client,’ Mr. Anderson explained.

Once the developer receives the deposit the client may sign the title deeds, which makes them the legal owner of the property which they can do with as they wish. The offer from the developer comes interest free, which is another attractive point to make. It is currently available through several developers around the Algarve region.

Anderson adds, “This developer funding method is aimed at a variety of investors but is generally ideal for those people who are able to get finance in 12 months, just not now. For example, many clients have the funds to pay a high mortgage but still cannot qualify. Some investors may want to recoup rental income to cover the instalments and pay the property off quicker. There are also those who want to wait and see if they can sell the property within that period of time, and also others that are waiting on a house sale to come through, or investment to mature. This alternative funding is ideal in all of these scenarios.”

For details of property in Portugal, visit the Portugal listings on Rightmove Overseas. One way to save money when buying in Portugal is to use a currency specialist when transferring your pounds into euros to complete the purchase of your property. For more information on this, contact Smart Currency Exchange.

To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in Portugal, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘Portugal Property Buying Guide’