“We analyzed more than 150 projects in Portugal last year”
Last Updated on 8 September 2025 by Equipo Urbanitae
With Urbanitae set to attend the Iberinmo Summit Portugal next Monday and Tuesday, September 15 and 16, we interviewed Simão Cruz, Country Director of Urbanitae in Portugal. Since his arrival in 2024, the Portuguese market has advanced significantly: in that first year we financed 8 projects totaling €28.8 million, and so far in 2025 we have already closed two deals worth €9.1 million. We asked Simão how Urbanitae is consolidating its presence in Portugal—its strategy, key projects, and what lies ahead—to provide a clear view of our momentum in real estate co-investment.
Urbanitae landed in Portugal in 2024 and in just one year has established itself as a leader in real estate co-investment. How do you assess that first year of activity?
This past year has been quite challenging for Urbanitae in Portugal. We took the necessary time to study not only the market but also the entire corporate, legal, and tax structure of real estate transactions before approaching the market with our value proposition. Once we did, the market responded quite well. Still, since we take a very cautious approach to investment risk, the start was slow—though fortunately it resulted in excellent partnerships with developers and landmark projects in Portugal.
In our first year of activity, we managed to close 10 crowdfunding campaigns with a total investment volume of €38 million, amounting to 10,900 investments under management, representing €282 million in assets under management (AUM).
In short, it was a first year with results exceeding our expectations, during which we positioned ourselves as market leaders in Portugal, clearly demonstrating the potential of our platform as an alternative financing solution for real estate projects.
So far in 2025, you have already financed two deals worth more than €9 million. What type of projects are you prioritizing in Portugal?
At Urbanitae we are agnostic regarding the type of real estate projects we invest in. Looking at the portfolio’s track record, we have seven residential projects, two aparthotels, and one office project. There is a strong concentration of residential projects, which reflects the level of investment in the Portuguese real estate market.
However, what we prioritize are projects proposed by developers with proven experience, a history of successfully completed projects, located in high-value areas with strong demand and low liquidity risk. Projects with no licensing risk, or where the licensing process is already well advanced, are always our focus since only then can we control execution timelines. We also consider projects whose commercialization is already well advanced, given that the exit strategy is clearly defined and the developer can then focus entirely on execution.
The Portuguese real estate market is currently very active, with a focus on both residential and other asset types. Where do you see the main investment opportunities today?
It is true that most investment opportunities are usually found in central areas of major cities. However, it has become clear that excellent projects can also be found in the surrounding areas. At Urbanitae, we have received numerous requests to evaluate luxury residential opportunities in several premium locations—something natural given the country’s reputation as a luxury destination, and recently, the fact that many internationally renowned personalities have chosen Portugal to invest and live in.
“In Portugal, our AUM (assets under management) amounts to €282 million.”
In addition to residential projects, which will continue to be the main investment assets going forward, we have identified concepts such as flex living, retail projects, and aparthotels, which tend to offer excellent investment opportunities, both in terms of profitability and shorter development timelines compared to residential projects. The scarcity of this type of product in the market makes prices attractive for developers to include such operations in their pipelines.
One of Urbanitae’s differentiating values is co-investment: developers and retail investors participate in the same projects. How is this model being received in Portugal?
More and more Portuguese developers and investors are becoming aware of our platform. As a result, not only do we now have more resident investors in Portugal investing with us, but real estate developers are also considering our business model when structuring new projects.
Just last year alone, we analyzed more than 150 investment opportunities—a figure that gives us confidence in the market’s potential. We are fully aware that we are only at the beginning, and it is only a matter of time before all developers consider real estate crowdfunding when defining the capital structure of any project. They may not choose this solution, but it is clear they will have to consider it due to the added value we bring to both the developer and the project. The more information they have about available alternatives, the better their decisions will be.
Urbanitae has closed large-scale deals, with €5M tickets—unprecedented in Portugal. What does this mean for the sector and for investors’ perception of this model?
Co-investment is a known model in Portugal. However, it has so far been structured in a closed environment limited to institutional investors, with minimum entry thresholds far beyond the reach of small retail investors. Urbanitae has literally come to democratize this real estate investment market, enabling small investors who were previously excluded to become partners with the country’s top developers, investing in landmark projects with expected returns that would otherwise be hard to find—while also benefiting from the important diversification component in any investment.
The €5M tickets have opened the door to new developers and larger-scale projects, with greater economies of scale, making them more efficient and with better expected returns. I believe the sector is still surprised by this capability and by the way we have structured such deals. It is true that, for many developers, the competitive advantage of using Urbanitae only becomes clear after a first contact or an initial opportunity analysis. Proof of this is that, of the seven developers we currently have projects with in Portugal, two have already returned to the platform with new projects, and three others currently have opportunities under review by us.
The Portugal Real Estate Summit brings together the market’s main players. How important is it for Urbanitae to participate in such an event?
For Urbanitae, the Portugal Real Estate Summit is, above all, a time to take stock of what has happened in the sector over the past year and listen to the market—connecting with developers and investors, attending interesting conferences and debates, meeting new players, and gaining insights into everything involved in the always dynamic process of developing any real estate project.
“Of the 7 developers we currently have ongoing projects with in Portugal, 2 have already returned to the platform with new projects.”
At the 2024 edition, the former governor of the Bank of Portugal commented on developers opening their capital structures to retail investors in real estate projects—precisely noting that there is still much to be done in Portugal in this regard. This year, one of the interactive sessions will focus on alternative real estate financing, with Urbanitae participating as a panelist—once again giving us the opportunity to openly discuss this subject with developers and other stakeholders. This clearly shows that the market is paying increasing attention to alternative sources of financing and to opening capital structures to new investors.
What can we expect from Urbanitae in Portugal by the end of 2025 and in the years ahead?
By the end of 2025, we will surely have new investment opportunities announced on the platform. Later this month, we plan to launch a new crowdfunding campaign for another landmark project, and by year-end we have at least three more opportunities in our pipeline.
In the coming years, above all, we aim to establish a greater recurrence of new opportunities, allowing Urbanitae investors to diversify by country and project type. We also expect to soon launch our first debt project—something we have been working on to ensure legal and tax security in its structuring. Only once we have stabilized this part will we present this new investment strategy in Portugal.
Over the next few years, we want to grow both in financed volume and in the Portuguese investor base. Our goal is to attract more and more developers and projects to our platform, while maintaining the quality of the opportunities presented, and consolidating Urbanitae as what it already is in Portugal: the benchmark for real estate crowdfunding.
