The crisis in numbers
A home now costs almost three times what it did ten years ago
Wages haven’t kept up, public housing barely exists and hundreds of thousands of homes sit empty. Here are the figures, with sources, so no one can say we’re exaggerating.
Eight figures that explain the crisis
+180%
rise in house prices from 2015 to 2025, the second-highest in the EU. EU average: +65%.
Eurostat, 2026
+16,5%
rise in house prices in a single year (Q2 2026 on Q2 2025). In Q1 2026, Portugal had the steepest rise in the EU.
INE, House Price Index
17,42 €/m²
median rent on new leases in Lisbon, and €14.60 in Porto. Nationally, the median has passed €10/m² for the first time.
INE, 2026
920 €
gross minimum wage in 2026 (about €819 take-home). A 70 m² flat in Lisbon costs about €1,220 a month.
Decree-Law 139/2025
723 215
empty homes, 12.1% of all housing. In the Lisbon and Porto areas, 136,000 of them are neither for sale nor for rent.
INE, 2021 Census
≈2%
of homes are public housing, one of the lowest shares in Europe after decades of underinvestment.
ISCTE, 2025
28.9 years
average age at which young people leave their parents’ home. EU average: 26.2.
Eurostat, 2024 data
1447
eviction orders issued in 2025, 44% more than the year before, out of 2,562 fast-track eviction applications.
Ministry of Justice, via Público
How we got here
This crisis was built. It can be taken apart.
Homes became investments
For years, golden visas and tax breaks for new residents pulled money into property. Golden visas for real estate ended in 2023, but housing is still seen as a safe place to park money, and prices follow the investors.
Touristification
In the old centres of Lisbon and Porto, whole buildings switched from homes to short-term lets. Every flat that becomes a short-term let is one less home for the people who work in the city.
A State that stepped back
Public building fell from about 4,500 homes a year (1970–1984) to around 278 a year (2010–2014). With no public housing to speak of, the market alone sets the price.
Too little being built, and not for us
Estimates put the need at 45,000 to 50,000 new homes a year, while only 25,000 to 30,000 are being finished. And much of what does get built is priced far above local incomes.
Wages left behind
From 2015 to 2025, house prices rose 180%. Over the same years, the minimum wage rose 72%, from €505 to €870. Housing costs grew more than twice as fast as the lowest wages.
Empty homes and speculation
The 2021 Census counted 723,215 empty homes. Many are run-down, but in the Lisbon and Porto metropolitan areas alone, around 136,000 are neither for sale nor for rent.
Timeline
What changed in the law
2006
New Urban Lease Regime (NRAU)
Law 6/2006 sets today’s rules on lease length, rent increases and how leases end.
2009
Tax breaks for new residents
The non-habitual resident regime (Decree-Law 249/2009) offers ten years of low taxes to people moving to Portugal. It adds pressure on prices in the big cities and closes to newcomers in 2024.
2012
Golden visas
Law 29/2012 grants residence to anyone buying property worth €500,000 or more. Until 2023, most golden visas were granted for buying homes.
2012
The “rent law”
Law 31/2012 makes it easier to raise old rents and to evict, and creates a fast-track eviction procedure. It is the law the tent camps want repealed.
2014
Short-term lets
Decree-Law 128/2014 creates the legal framework for renting homes to tourists. Whole buildings in Lisbon and Porto are taken off the housing market.
2019
Property investment companies
Decree-Law 19/2019 creates SIGIs, listed companies that buy property to rent out, with the same tax treatment as investment funds.
2019
Tenant protection and the Housing Framework Law
Laws 12/2019 and 13/2019 ban harassment of tenants and make leases more stable. Law 83/2019 recognises housing as a fundamental right. Much of it has yet to be put into practice.
2023
The “Mais Habitação” package
Law 56/2023 caps rent rises at 2% on new leases for homes that were already rented, ends golden visas for buying property and tightens the rules on short-term lets and empty homes.
2024
New land law
Decree-Law 117/2024 lets rural land be reclassified as urban to build housing, under the government’s “Construir Portugal” programme.
2026
Faster evictions: not law yet
Government bill 103/XVII would scrap the 2% cap on new leases and speed up evictions for arrears. It passed its first reading on 30 September, with PSD, IL and CDS in favour and Chega abstaining, and is now being debated in committee. There is still time to stop it.
The full list of housing laws, with links to the official gazette, is on the ILC pela Habitação website (in Portuguese).
Sources
Figures last checked in October 2026. If you spot a mistake or have more recent figures, let us know.
- INE, Statistics Portugal: Housing Price Index, rents on new leases, 2021 Census
- Eurostat: house price index, age of leaving the parental home
- PORDATA: historical series on housing, wages and population
- Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, Article 65
- Law 83/2019, Housing Framework Law
- Portal da Habitação (IHRU): public programmes and the National Housing Programme
Housing is a right.
Let’s win it.
Join the people getting organised in buildings, neighbourhoods and workplaces all over Portugal.