Rents have been falling for five months (but Lisbon still hurts)
Rental prices dropped 2.4% in June, the fifth straight monthly fall. Even so, renting in the capital costs 21.8 euros per square metre.
After years of climbing without a brake, the rental market is finally showing tenants some breathing room. Rents in Portugal fell 2.4% in June against the same month a year earlier — the fifth straight monthly decline. It’s no revolution, but it is a change of direction that seemed unthinkable not long ago.
The detail that spoils the party
Before popping the champagne, it’s worth looking at the absolute numbers. Lisbon is still the most expensive city to rent, with a median of 21.8 euros per square metre, followed by Funchal at 16.8 and Porto at 16.4. In other words: prices may be easing, but they started so high that the end-of-month bill still squeezes anyone house-hunting in the big centres.
There’s a second layer. In the first quarter, the national median rent was around 9.46 euros per square metre, up 9.1% on a year earlier — a sign that the slowdown is recent and hasn’t undone the accumulated rise.
Buy or rent
On the buying side, the picture is the opposite: house prices keep rising, if more slowly, and the cost of credit ticked up again with higher interest rates. For many families, the rent-or-buy decision is no longer obvious and now hinges on how long you plan to stay and how much you have saved up front.
The honest read: less bad for renters, far from cheap in the cities.
See also: how home sales slowed at the start of the year. Updated price reports are available at idealista/data.
Image: Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
