The number of properties with new AL licenses has never been higher. Between January and June alone, 11,285 new properties were registered, 68% more than the same period last year, according to data from the National Register of Local Accommodation Establishments (RNAL). And compared to the first half of 2018 – which until now has registered a record of AL registrations – new licenses increased by 6%. This means that in the first half of 2023 a new historical maximum of AL requests was registered, writes Dinheiro Vivo.

The Associação do Alojamento Local in Portugal (ALEP) has no doubts: as there is no increase in tourist demand that justifies these numbers, this race for new AL licenses in Portugal was, above all, stimulated by the new measures of Mais Habitação. "Whenever restrictions, closures or suspensions are announced in relation to the AL, this last-chance environment is triggered", said Eduardo Miranda.

On February 16, the Government of António Costa announced in the Mais Habitação package a series of measures to encourage the transfer of AL homes to long-term leases, also putting an end to new registrations until 2030 throughout the territory, with the exception of low-density regions.

Since that date, "there has been this idea among the owners that the AL can close at any time", explains the president of ALEP to the same newspaper. For this very reason, many landowners go ahead with requests for AL licenses, especially in beach and coastal destinations, to be on the safe side in the future: if they wanted to resort to the activity, they already have an AL license. In this context, ALEP considers that it is likely that a large part of the new AL licenses awarded until June will be “ghost registrations”, not translating into an increase in the supply of AL in the country.