Portugal central bank governor calls for more construction and public housing to ease housing crisis

At a Lisbon seminar co-hosted by the Banco de Portugal and the Banco de España, governor Álvaro Santos Pereira stressed that solutions to the housing crisis must come from the supply side, calling for more building activity and public housing. He clarified that the central bank’s function is to present data rather than enter political debates. Pereira pointed out that public housing levels in Portugal are well below the OECD average and that bureaucratic hurdles and slow licensing impede rapid construction.

He also mentioned difficulties attracting skilled workers to the sector. José Luis Escrivá, the Banco de España governor, added that the construction sector emerged severely weakened from the prior crisis and struggles to meet housing demand. Both officials urged coordinated action among governments, private firms, local authorities and universities to accelerate the needed reforms.