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Number of Residential Buildings Increase by 0.8% Over Last Decade

December 20, 2021 – Ana Custódio

The and the Algarve were the regions with the largest increases in the housing stock.

According to data published by the National Statistics Institute, there was an increase in the number of buildings and residential accommodation in Portugal during the last ten years, though at a slower rate than in previous decades.

According to the Provisional Results of the 2021 Census, the number of buildings for habitation purposes reached 3,573,416, with a total of 5,981,485 dwellings. Compared to 2011, these figures represent an increase of 0.8% and 1.7%, respectively. The growth of housing stock in the last ten years was significantly lower than in the previous decade when the figures were around 12% for buildings and 16% for homes.

INE also stated that in regional terms, the Autonomous Region of the Azores and the Algarve registered the greatest increases in housing stock, with the number of buildings for housing increasing by 1.7% and 1.1%, and dwellings by 3.3% and 3.2%, respectively.  In the previous decade, the Algarve region was also the region that registered the highest growth in its housing stock.

Between 2011 and 2021, the number of residences grew in 72% of Portugal’s municipalities (221).  Buildings with only one dwelling account for about 87% of the housing stock, while buildings with 2 to 4 homes represent 7.5% and larger buildings, with ten or more flats, correspond to just 2.3% of the residential buildings.

Translation: Richard D K Turner