Faced with its worst financial situation in over 30 years, Portugal avoided default on Friday by paying off maturing 2005 bonds.

It depleted its cash reserves and sold €4.2 billion ($6.1 billion) worth of bonds, with the 10-year yielding roughly nine percent.

Portugal is close to becoming the third member of the Eurozone to seek assistance from the EU along with Greece and Ireland, where bailouts have so far proven ineffective.

Portugal will soon be forced to apply for a bailout package worth approximately €80bn ($115 billion) with European finance ministers aiming to approve a bailout agreement as soon as May 16th.

The details of the bailout are still up for discussion but will certainly involve changes to the country's austerity and economic policies with particular attention and debate on the interest rate.

To avoid setting a trend, European leaders, especially those in wealthy countries such as Germany and Finland, are particularly keen on not allowing Portugal to restructure its debt and are demanding a tough approach to Portugal.

Despite this, Jorge Moniz, of Banco Espirito Santo, believes that Portugal's housing market will be unaffected.

Moniz stated that there has been a considerable increase in the number of mortgage applications from UK residents looking to buy property in Portugal.

It is important to note that Portugal hasn't suffered from a property bubble. On the contrary, over the past 10 years up to now, our property prices have been quite stable, he added.

Moniz went on to discuss how Portugal did not expose itself to overbuilding and that the country's banking sector is relatively strong compared to its European counterparts where oversupply in the housing industry is quite prevalent.

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