The district where Portuguese house prices rose fastest is not Lisbon or Porto
Median asking prices per square metre rose 22.9% year on year in Santarém in August, against 4% in Lisbon. Nationally the figure held at 3,207 euros per square metre, barely moved from July.
Santarém. That is the Portuguese district where homes for sale gained the most value over the past year, with an annual rise of 22.9% in August, according to the idealista price index. Lisbon, over the same period, rose 4%.
Behind Santarém come Pico Island at 20.8%, Terceira at 19.6%, Évora at 19.5% and Viseu at 17.1%. Portalegre and Coimbra follow, both at 17%. Of the 25 districts and islands measured, exactly one fell: Faial Island, down 10.1%.
A country moving at two speeds
By region the pattern is sharper still. Centro led at 14.1%, with Alentejo just behind at 14%. The Azores rose 12.4%, Madeira 9%, the Algarve 8.7% and the North 7.4%. Greater Lisbon came last, at 5%.
None of that makes the interior expensive yet. It means the gap is closing faster from the bottom. Lisbon remains the priciest district in the country at a median 4,759 euros per square metre, while Guarda stays the cheapest at 745 euros. That is a sixfold difference, and it has held for years. The open question is how long it holds now.
The national brake
Across the country, the median asking price reached 3,207 euros per square metre in August, marginally below July’s 3,210. The annual change was 7.5%, after 8% in July and 8.9% in June. The pace is easing, but it is easing from a record level.
Renting tells a different story. Rents rose 5.2% in August, and the coefficient that will govern the 2027 rent update is already out from the statistics office. Two markets, pulling on the same rope.
One caveat on the numbers: idealista measures asking prices in listings, not completed deeds. It is a read on where sellers think the market is going, which usually runs ahead of what turns up later in transaction statistics.
Chart: Tugadaily, with data from idealista (August 2026)
