Buying a Home in Portugal Costs 932 Euros Per Square Meter and Three-Times that in Lisbon

3 May 2018

Buying a home has undoubtedly become more expensive. In one year – from the fourth quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2017 – the average prices of houses sold increased by 7.6% from €866 per square meter to €932 per m2. In Lisbon, buying a house costs 2,438 euros per m2, but prices can reach over 3,820 euros per m2.

The figures, released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), conclude that “the median price of housing remained above the national average in the regions of the Algarve (1,383 euros per m2), Lisbon Metropolitan Area (1,262 euros per m2) and the Autonomous Region of Madeira (1,126 euros per m2).” In the Metropolitan Area of Porto, the average price of housing sold in the fourth quarter of last year stood at 893 euros per m2.

In year-on-year terms, between October and December last year, the country’s seven cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants each, saw housing prices skyrocket. Lisbon (+18.1%), Porto (+17.6%) and Amadora (+15.9%), took the top three places in the ranking. In the capital, the price per square meter increased to 2,438 euros, in Porto they went up to 1,307 euros per m2 and in Amadora prices rose to 1,037 euros per m2.

Where are the most expensive areas?

According to the INE, 39 municipalities had a median value of home sales above the national average of 932 euros per m2. Most of them are in the Algarve, where the majority have prices above 1,000 euros per m2, and in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.

However, where is the most expensive place in Portugal to buy a home? The answer is Lisbon, in the parishes of Santo António (includes Avenida da Liberdade and adjacent areas) and Misericórdia (includes the area of Bairro Alto and Cais do Sodré). In these two areas of the capital, the average sales in the fourth quarter of last year stood at €3,827 per square meter and €3,520 per square meter, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 54.3% and 30.2%.

“In the period under analysis, the parishes of Estrela, Avenidas Novas, Campo de Ourique, São Vicente, Belém, and Arroios also registered median housing prices that were above the average in the city of Lisbon (2,438 euros per m2). The two registered increases above that of the city as a whole (+18.1%),” the INE reported.

In the case of Porto, the Union of Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau and Vitória and the Union of Aldoar, Foz do Douro and Nevogilde were the ones that presented the highest median prices: 1,512 euros per m2 and 1,955 euros per m2, respectively.

This is above the average price in the city (€1,307 per square meter) and much higher than that of the same period last year (year-on-year changes of +35.7% and +20.2%, respectively).

Original Story: Idealista

Photo: Creative Commons

Translation: Richard Turner