Bar chart comparing the 1,000-home affordable rent target for 2026, the 588 homes Porto Vivo manages and the new 1,600-home target for 2029

Real Estate 6 September 2026

Porto promised 1,000 affordable homes by 2026. It will end the year with 588

The target Porto City Council set in 2023 was a thousand affordable rental homes by 2026. Porto Vivo will close the year managing 588 — and the target has just moved to 1,600 homes by 2029.

In August 2023 Porto City Council posted leaflets through the city’s letterboxes asking residents to lend it their empty flats. The goal was written on the municipal company’s own website: a thousand homes under the affordable rent scheme by 2026. It is now September 2026. Porto Vivo will finish the year managing 588.

That gap is a measurement, not an accusation. It is 412 homes short, and the council has done what councils tend to do when a deadline arrives: moved the deadline. The new target is 1,600 affordable rental homes by 2029, roughly quadrupling today’s stock.

Where the other thousand homes come from

Porto Vivo says it has a further 398 homes in the pipeline to reach the market by 2029, from projects already in development. The biggest single block is the Campanhã scheme, 331 homes built with Sonae Sierra and due for completion in — yes — 2029. A second build-to-rent partnership, with the Ageas group, adds more, and 159 homes reach the market by December.

Add it all up and the arithmetic works. What the arithmetic does not say is how many of those homes depend on construction that has not started, which is exactly where the 2026 target went.

What tenants and landlords actually get

For tenants, Porto com Sentido promises rents at least 20% below market, five-year contracts with the possibility of renewal, and, depending on household income and size, a rent subsidy on top. Homes are allocated by lottery among eligible applicants.

For owners who put a flat into the scheme, the council offers full exemption from income tax on the rental income for contracts of five years or more, exemption from council tax, and guaranteed 100% occupancy even when the flat sits empty. It is a deal engineered to strip out every ounce of landlord risk. It is still 412 homes short.

By Duarte Figueiredo

Chart: Tugadaily, with Porto Vivo, SRU data

Tugadaily chart: median house asking price per square metre, June 2026

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Bar chart of the monthly payment on a 150,000-euro home loan by Euribor term, compared with a year ago

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Real Estate 23 August 2026

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