It’s time to put an end to the fairy tales of the real estate market.
In Portugal, listings with seemingly generous areas multiply — until the trick is revealed. The secret lies in mixing up concepts: gross construction area, private gross area, usable area, dependent areas… all blended into a cocktail that makes the price per square metre look irresistible. In practice, the buyer believes they’re investing in “real space,” but ends up paying for square metres they’ll never actually use.
A “100 m² apartment” may, at best, have 70 m² of truly habitable space. The rest consists of garages, balconies, storage rooms, common areas, and even walls creatively counted in.
The result? Frustration, mistrust, and deals that collapse when the bank valuation or financing doesn’t match the “magical reality” advertised.
This game of areas has become common practice. “That’s how everyone does it” — they say. But normalising a mistake (or a deception) isn’t professionalism: it’s just a polite way of misleading the client.
The truth is simple:
👉 The private gross area is what matters to the buyer.
👉 The rest is technical detail — and, often, marketing in disguise.
As an appraiser, I see this every day. Part of it comes from lack of training; part, unfortunately, is intentional.
But as long as we keep selling imaginary square metres, the sector will continue to lose something that can’t be measured in square metres: credibility.