Broken down by sector, retail remained the leader, attracting 29% of investment, followed by offices (26%) and hotels (20%).

Alternative assets, such as the specialised residential segment (student residences and senior residences), accounted for 13% of investment, and the industrial and logistics sector around 11%.

In the year just ended, there was "a generalised drop in absorption levels in offices", which fell 23% in Lisbon and 51% in Porto compared to the same period last year, and in logistics, with a drop of 30%, according to the consultancy's statement.

C&W's analysis states that retail saw a 20% reduction in the number of new openings, "although with strong dynamism in catering", and that hotels remained "resilient", with more than 80 new hotels and 4,800 additional beds.

The consultancy emphasises that "these results are not discouraging, given that 2024 had been an absolutely exceptional year", and adds that some deals planned for the end of the year "should actually be completed in the first few months of the new year".

Foreign investment, despite accounting for more than half of the capital invested, was "far from historic highs", freeing up space for domestic investors to grow.

Commercial rents rose above all in prime areas, despite the drop in occupancy, indicating a "shortage of quality supply" rather than a lack of demand, according to the same analysis.

Yields compressed throughout the year, with the exception of offices in Lisbon, where the rate remained at 5%, standing at 6.5% for offices in Porto, 5.5% for logistics, 4% for street retail and 6.15% for shopping centres.

C&W explains that yields "move inversely to prices, so a compression of the yield implies an appreciation of the asset".

For the consultancy, affordable housing, aimed at "the middle segment in the peripheral areas of large urban centres", will be one of the "great challenges and opportunities for 2026", encouraged by the government's measures to increase housing supply.

"Developers who manage to overcome legal and technical obstacles and respond to the demand for more affordable housing will be well placed to benefit from the positive momentum in the market. A legal and fiscal framework that is more favourable to the development of “build to rent” could be decisive in unlocking a sector that is unavoidable in Europe in terms of investment, but which still has little expression in Portugal," the statement said.