Markets
Rhamos Properties works in Portugal, Spain and Dubai. In all three a foreign national may buy. In only one of them does buying still lead to residency: Dubai. Portugal closed the property route in October 2023 and Spain repealed its own in April 2025.
That divergence is what organises this section. Each market has its own legal regime, its own currency and a negotiating culture that barely touches the other two. What does not change from country to country is the order in which a property is verified, and who answers the telephone when the process becomes difficult.
Not in Portugal, not in Spain, yes in Dubai. The table is dated because these matters change, and because a substantial share of what is written about them predates the changes. Anyone planning on 2022 information is planning against rules that no longer exist.
| Market | Does buying grant residency? | Verified position |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal | No | The property route into the Residence Permit for Investment Activity (Autorização de Residência para Investimento, ARI), known as the Golden Visa, was removed in October 2023 by Lei 56/2023. The routes that remain are qualifying investment funds from €500,000, donation to cultural heritage, scientific research and job creation. The revision of the nationality law took effect in May 2026. |
| Spain | No | The golden visa was repealed with effect from 3 April 2025, by Ley Orgánica 1/2025. There is no direct replacement. Permits granted before that date remain valid. |
| Dubai | Yes | The threshold of AED 2,000,000 of value registered at the Dubai Land Department (DLD) still gives access to the ten-year Golden Visa. In 2026 the rules became more accessible, with changes to the advance-payment requirement and the admission of aggregated properties. |
A proposal exists, announced in January 2025 and submitted to parliament in May 2025, to tax the purchase of housing by buyers from outside the European Union at 100%. It is not law, it is not in force and it has no date of application. It may yet move in either direction. Saying otherwise — that it already applies, or that it has definitively been dropped — is wrong in both directions.
The three markets
Our own offices in all three markets. We do not work by remote representation, and we do not subcontract verification to anyone with an interest in the sale.
Lisbon · Cascais · Algarve
Prime residential, refurbishment and second homes
Property does not grant residency
Buying in Portugal stopped granting residency by investment in October 2023. Purchase by foreign nationals remains open, with no restriction of nationality or residence, and still requires a Portuguese tax number. This is the market with the most developed page on the site, because it is where we have the most documented work.
Read the guide to buying in PortugalMadrid · Marbella · Balearics
Prime urban and coastal
Property does not grant residency
The Spanish golden visa was repealed with effect from 3 April 2025. Purchase by foreign nationals remains open, and permits granted before that date remain valid. The question that reaches us most often in writing is the 100% tax, and the answer is above: it is a proposal, not law.
The Spain market page is in preparation. We publish a market page when it carries observation of our own and at least one real transaction in the area — not before.
Read the questions on SpainDowntown · Palm Jumeirah · Marina
Investment and off-plan
Property grants residency
This is the one market of the three where property is still tied to residency: AED 2,000,000 of value registered at the Dubai Land Department (DLD) gives access to the ten-year Golden Visa. It is also the market where the contract matters more than the floor plan, because a good deal of what is bought has not been built yet.
The Dubai market page is in preparation. In the meantime, the assessment of developer, escrow account and payment calendar is set out on the off-plan page.
Read the questions on DubaiCurrency and units follow the market, not the language. A Dubai report read in Portuguese stays in square feet and dirhams. A Lisbon particulars sheet read in English stays in square metres and euros.
The reason is practical rather than stylistic. Converting units for the reader's comfort introduces a rounding that reappears later in the comparison between markets and, later still, in the offer. We would rather the figure you see is the figure on the document.
| Market | Currency | Area unit | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | EUR | m² | Lisboa |
| Spain | EUR | m² | Madrid |
| Dubai | AED | sq ft | Dubai |
The address and telephone number of each office are published once they are confirmed and answered. Until then, first contact is in writing.
See how to reach usThe Rhamos method
One file, three jurisdictions, one point of contact. The rules change from country to country; the order in which a property is verified does not.
01
We work under a mandate from the buyer, not the seller. Our fee is fixed in writing before the first viewing and does not depend on which property is chosen.
02
No property is presented without the land registry extract, the tax record, the use permit and the energy certificate verified. What does not pass never reaches your desk.
03
The same team handles a purchase in Lisbon, a sale in Madrid and an off-plan reservation in Dubai. One file, not three processes that never speak to each other.
Buying in Lisbon and selling in Marbella are different operations under different rules. What does not change is who answers the telephone.
See the nine phases of a represented purchaseA market page is published once it carries observation of our own: an observed price with the date it was observed, the dominant typology, the typical time to sale, and at least one real property or transaction in the area. Without that, the text is interchangeable — swap the city name and it still reads.
Serial geographic pages are the most heavily penalised mistake in property publishing, and the damage does not stay on the weak page: it drags down the good pages on the same site. We published Portugal and Lisbon first. The rest follow one at a time, when there is something to say that cannot be written from a distance.
Read what we observe in the three marketsIf you are deciding between two geographies, the useful conversation does not start with a property. It starts with the intended use, the holding horizon and the tax structure the purchase will sit inside.