ABSTRACT

Recent land use and landscape changes in Portugal have largely been incited by the expansion of second homes. The importance of the second home expansion has been recorded by the last three Population and Housing Censuses: in the inter-census 1991–2001 and 2001–11 periods, the number of second homes increased 40 per cent and 23 per cent, while the number of first home dwellings grew only 16 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively. In 2011, 1,133,166 second homes represented 19 per cent of all dwellings. The second home phenomenon has indeed become a remarkable new spatial occupation and population mobility feature evident in diverse parts of the country. They can be found not only in the highly urbanised and dynamic littoral but also in the aged and stagnating rural interior, as well as in areas with attractive natural and cultural landscapes and other amenities. Like in other Southern European countries, the share of second homes in the housing stock has been greater than in other parts of Europe. 1