"I can say that our phones haven't stopped ringing. We have clients with land that we had given a certain value to and they already want to double [the price] on them", said Cristina Peres, from the real estate agency ERA Samora Correia, in the municipality of Benavente, in the district of Santarém, to the Lusa agency. "The land will be highly sought after for the construction of new housing, but also for all the services that are needed near a large airport. This will be huge for this area. It was a quiet area, it will no longer be", she added. According to Cristina Peres, an apartment in Samora Correia currently costs around 200 thousand euros and a villa over 400 thousand, but prices "should still go up further, because Samora Correia is 20 minutes from Lisbon and will be 10 minutes from the future airport". The Government announced on Tuesday the construction of the new infrastructure -- to replace Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon - at the Air Force Firing Range, also known as Alcochete Firing Range (due to the proximity of this urban centre) and which is mostly located in the parish of Samora Correia, with a small part in the parish of Canha, in the municipality of Montijo (district of Setúbal). In the municipalities of Montijo and Alcochete, also in the district of Setúbal, land and houses are already at very high prices for most citizens, but operators in the sector believe that there will be an increase in demand in the coming times. "What effectively boosts the construction and purchase and sale of real estate in this region is its location in relation to Setúbal and Lisbon. The airport has always been a parallel issue, also because it is not so welcome for some people, who think that it can be more harmful than bringing something positive", said Cláudio Oliveira, from the real estate agency Novo Impacto, who has been working in the sector for over 12 years. "Of course, for builders and landowners the expectation is that demand will increase even more, but the reality is that in recent years supply has been lower than demand", he said, assuring that the average Portuguese person already has difficulty acquiring a home and that the "main buyer of houses in the region is already the international market". In the municipality of Alcochete, where a new apartment or a brand new villa can cost a few more tens of thousands of euros, compared to Montijo or Samora Correia, Ana Nascimento, from the real estate agency Century21 Nações, believes that real estate is already very expensive and that the announcement of the new airport will not have a very significant impact on prices. "A new 2-bedroom apartment, brand new, in Alcochete, you cannot buy it for less than 450,000 euros. A semi-detached house can be around 550,000 euros, detached houses around 1.2 million euros", she said. Despite the high prices, Ana Nascimento said that on Wednesday, one day after the announcement of the new airport, "some large construction companies were already looking for land in the region, to see what they could build". The vice-president of the Portuguese Real Estate Mediators Association (ASMIP), Francisco Bacelar, has no doubts that the construction of the new airport and the high-speed train "will bring many interests, in the surrounding area and in the access routes, which can help boost real estate". "It will be a new real estate centre, as Expo98 was 20 years ago. Around the airport there will be a new real estate centre, a new city that is expected for the coming decades", he added, warning that "there may be obstacles that delay the deadline set by the Government for the construction of the new airport". According to the Government, led by the social democrat Luís Montenegro, the future infrastructure, which will be called Luís de Camões Airport, should be completed within 10 years. The choice of Alcochete Firing Range coincides with the recommendation of the final report of the Independent Technical Commission responsible for the strategic environmental assessment of the new airport. Also Read: Lisbon airport environmental impact declaration is no longer valid (Portuguese version)