Real Estate 9 September 2026

Rents rose in 14 of Portugal's 19 districts last month

Asking rents were up 4.9% year on year in August, to a median of €18.1 per square metre, according to idealista's index. Viana do Castelo led the rises at 32.2% in the city, while Porto fell 6.3%.

If you are scrolling rental listings right now, the national average matters less than the number for the place you actually want to live. The national figure says asking rents rose 4.9% in August against the same month last year, to a median of €18.1 per square metre. What happens district by district is a very different story.

Idealista’s price index shows rents up over twelve months in six of the seven regions it tracks. The exception is the North, down 6.3% — the only part of the country where renting costs less than it did a year ago.

Where it climbed hardest

Across districts and islands, the sharpest annual rises were in Faro (22.8%), Viana do Castelo (19.3%), Aveiro (16%), São Miguel (12.6%), Bragança (11.7%), Madeira (10.4%) and Guarda (10.3%). Going the other way: Vila Real (-15.5%), Coimbra (-6.3%), Porto (-5.9%) and Castelo Branco (-1.8%).

Look at the cities and the jump is starker. Viana do Castelo rose 32.2% in twelve months. Aveiro was up 23.8%, Funchal 11.3%, Braga 10.7% and Lisbon 7%. Porto, the city, fell 6.3%.

Lisbon remains the most expensive place to rent at a median €24.5 per square metre, ahead of Porto (18.6) and Funchal (17.3). At the affordable end sit Castelo Branco (7.2), Viseu (8.1), Leiria (9.4) and Santarém (9.7).

What is driving it

August was the second consecutive month of increases, after six months of falls in the first half of the year. Two things explain most of it. Supply is still tight — the stock of homes to rent fell 22% in the second quarter year on year. And people who cannot buy end up renting instead, with buying harder now that rates have risen and banks have tightened lending criteria.

New urban tenancy rules took effect on 1 September, and the simplified affordable-rent regime is the piece meant to push homes onto the market below the local median. These numbers are from August, which is to say from before. The real test is what the indices show in three or four months.

By Duarte Figueiredo

Image: Sergei Gussev / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

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

Real Estate 18 September 2026

House prices in Portugal: the tracker

A running tracker of Portugal's housing market — the INE price index, bank valuations, rents and affordability. Updated with each new data release.

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Évora seen from the south, the cathedral rising above the city's white houses and terracotta roofs

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Tugadaily bar chart of annual house price changes in August 2026: Santarém 22.9%, Pico Island 20.8%, Terceira 19.6%, Évora 19.5%, Viseu 17.1% and Lisbon 4%

Real Estate 11 September 2026

The district where Portuguese house prices rose fastest is not Lisbon or Porto

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Tugadaily bar chart of median price per square metre for homes sold in the first quarter of 2026: Greater Lisbon €4,322, Algarve €3,899, Portugal €2,337

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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

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Real Estate 4 September 2026

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Tugadaily bar chart comparing the tax rate on rental income under three Portuguese regimes: 28% with no scheme, 10% for moderate rent and zero under the RSAA

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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

Real Estate 1 September 2026

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Bar chart of the median monthly price of a room to rent in Lisbon, Funchal, Porto, Coimbra and Portalegre in the second quarter of 2026

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Tugadaily bar chart of the average monthly mortgage payment in Portugal: 394 euros in July 2025, 414 euros in July 2026, and 731 euros on loans signed in the last three months

Real Estate 23 August 2026

The average mortgage in Portugal costs 414 euros a month. New borrowers pay 731

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Tugadaily bar chart showing the share of homes rented within 24 hours by Portuguese district in the second quarter of 2026: Évora 43, Leiria 17, Porto 7 and Lisbon 5

Real Estate 21 August 2026

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