The rental market in Portugal is getting more and more expensive. And it is, above all, in the large urban centres near the coast where rent is higher. That's why, when it's time to rent a house in Portugal, it's important to take a good look at the average prices in each municipality across Portugal. The good news is that, in at least 166 municipalities, it is possible to rent a house at a price inferior to the national median, of 6,52 euros/m2, registered in 2022, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Come and discover which are the 10 cheapest places to rent a house in Portugal, as well as the most expensive options.
Renting a house in Portugal 2022/2023
Renting a house in Portugal is getting more and more expensive. That's precisely what INE data published on March 29th reflects: average rent rose 23% between 2019 and 2022, settling at 6.52 euros/m2 taking into account the 92,664 new lease contracts signed in the last 12 months ending December 2022. Despite rising house prices to rent, families are renting more homes in Portugal - the number of new contracts increased by 24% between 2019 and 2022.
As you would expect, people are mainly looking for houses to rent in large urban centres, such as Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Viseu, Coimbra or Leiria, as this is where the highest number of new rental contracts are closed. But there are also more and more families looking for homes on the outskirts of large urban centres (because properties are bigger and cheaper), and even in the countryside - a trend accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which showed the importance of living in harmony with nature.
One trend is clear when looking at rental prices in Portugal on the whole: rent tends to go down the further one moves from urban centres to the inland regions of the country. This is demonstrated on the map below, which shows the average price per m2 of property for rent in Portugal.
The 10 cheapest places to rent in Portugal 2023
The lighter shades of the map reveal the municipalities where there are houses for rent most affordable. And it is obvious that they are concentrated, mainly, in the interior of the country.
It is the municipality of Belmonte, in the district of Castelo Branco, which has the lowest house rents of all. Here, renting a house cost €2.45/m2 in average terms in the second half of 2022 (last 12 months). This means that renting a 100m2 house cost, in median terms, €245 per month in this municipality.
Right after is the municipality of Celorico de Basto, located in the district of Braga, and Castro Daire (Viseu), where the average rent stood at €2.49/m2 (in both cases). That is, in these municipalities it is possible to rent a 100m2 dwelling for less than €250/month. The list continues with the municipality of Melgaço, in Viana do Castelo, where renting a house cost €2.58/m2, and with Valpaços, in Vila Real, with average rent of €2.59/m2.
The 10 most expensive places to rent in Portugal 2023
The darker shades of the map reflect where it is more expensive to rent a home in Portugal. It is, above all, on the coast of the country that the green becomes darker, especially in the municipalities of the Algarve and in the Metropolitan Areas of Lisbon and Porto. There are, specifically, 37 municipalities that presented rental prices above the national average (6,52 euros/m2) in the second semester of 2022 (last 12 months).
Not surprisingly, it was Lisbon that registered the highest value of all (12,88 euros/m2). Therefore, renting a 100 m2 dwelling in the capital city cost, on average terms, 1,288 euros per month. In second place is Cascais (12.58 euros/m2), where renting a 100 m2 house had a median cost of 1,258 euros, INE data reveals. Oeiras ranks third (11,36 euros/m2).
The municipality of Porto appears in fourth position on the list of the 10 municipalities where it is most expensive to rent a house in Portugal. Renting a 100 m2 house had an average cost of 998 euros/month (9.98 euros/m2) in 2022. In this ranking, most of the municipalities (7 out of 10) belong to Greater Lisbon. The only exceptions are Porto and Matosinhos, which fall within Greater Porto, and Lagos, which is located in the Algarve.
