I have never heard of this before, and I have a few portuguese friends.
Also, in the context of Lisbon, I doubt that 16,000 salaried workers [0] could influence the market to that extent in a city of 500,000 people, especially given that digital nomads make, on average, $120,000 [1].
It seems to me that digital nomads are the new scapegoats for people who don't like to point their finger inwards.
[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20221227111848/https://nomadlist...
[1] https://www.twoticketsanywhere.com/digital-nomad-statistics/
16000 out of 500000 people will definitely move the needle quite a bit in housing, given the small % of people who move every year
Was the 2008 crisis also caused by digital nomads?
Minimum wage in Portugal is about €760/month, or $10,000/year. You're seriously underestimating how much $120k is.
The median salary of a digital nomad is sure lower than $120,000. I don’t have numbers, but I would say it should be closer to $60,000. Average salary in Lisbon is also roughly $48,000.
If locals want to blame someone, perhaps investment banks eating up the available housing stock would be a better target.
It's a completely different thing from new workers moving in to a city.