Construction and tax changes
Cement and steel rebar go into almost every building, so their sales are a quick monthly gauge of construction in Portugal. The chart shows how sales of each compare with the same month a year earlier, from January 1990 to the latest month Statistics Portugal (INE) has published. The numbered markers are the main tax changes on construction and housing over that time.
Cement and rebar sales in Portugal
Sales in the domestic market, as the change on the same month a year earlier. Above zero, sales grew; below zero, they fell.
The 12-month average smooths out the swings from one month to the next, such as those caused by weather or the number of working days. Hover over the chart, or tap it, to read a month and the tax change made then.
Tax changes on the chart
For each change, the table gives the average change in cement and rebar sales over the 12 months before it took effect and over the 12 months from then on. These are averages, not the effect of the tax change: credit, EU funds, the 2008 financial crisis and the 2011 bailout moved construction at the same time.
| Took effect | Tax change | Law | Cement sales | Rebar sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1July 2000 | Repair and renovation works on homes move to the reduced VAT rate, then 5%. The rule was first temporary; after a likely gap in 2004, it was made permanent from January 2005. | Law 3-B/2000 Law 55-B/2004 | ||
| 2June 2002 | The standard VAT rate, charged on most building work, rises from 17% to 19%. The same law closes subsidised home loans to new borrowers. | Law 16-A/2002 | ||
| 3January 2004 | Property-tax reform. The IMT replaces the Sisa as the tax on buying property, from January 2004, and the IMI replaces the Contribuição Autárquica as the yearly tax on owning it, from December 2003. | Decree-Law 287/2003 | ||
| 4July 2005 | The standard VAT rate rises from 19% to 21%. | Law 39/2005 | ||
| 5January 2011 | The standard VAT rate rises from 21% to 23%. | Law 55-A/2010 | ||
| 6January 2012 | Interest on home loans taken out from 2012 can no longer be deducted from income tax, and the deduction for older loans falls from 30% to 15% of the interest. | Law 64-B/2011 | ||
| 7October 2012 | A yearly stamp duty on homes with a taxable value of €1 million or more: 1% from 2013, after a one-off charge of 0.5% or 0.8% in 2012. | Law 55-A/2012 | ||
| 8January 2017 | The AIMI, a yearly surcharge on residential property and building land, replaces that stamp duty. Individuals pay 0.7% on the total value above €600,000. | Law 42/2016 | ||
| 9October 2023 | The Mais Habitação housing package. Building or restoring homes for affordable rent moves to the 6% VAT rate, but new building in urban regeneration areas loses it. Builders lose the delay in paying IMI on building land and unsold homes. | Law 56/2023 | ||
| 10August 2024 | Buyers aged 35 or under pay no IMT and no stamp duty on a first home to live in, up to €316,772, and less IMT up to €633,453 (2024 limits). | Decree-Law 48-A/2024 | ||
| 11July 2026 | Building or restoring homes moves to the 6% VAT rate, for homes sold for up to €660,982 or let for up to €2,300 a month. It covers projects submitted for a licence from 25 September 2025 to the end of 2029, and builder and buyer may agree to apply it from January 2026. | Decree-Law 97/2026 |
The chart leaves out the one-point changes to the standard VAT rate: down to 16% in March 1992, up to 17% in January 1995, down to 20% in July 2008 and up to 21% in July 2010.
Sources: INE, monthly indicators of cement sales (0014672) and rebar sales (0014673) in the domestic
market, downloaded each week with the ine Python client. Tax changes: selected by Hugo Morão, each
checked against the law that made it, as published in the Diário da República.