Living near major urban centres, where rents are more affordable, continues to be the main focus of rental searches in Portugal. Evidence of this is that the municipalities surrounding Lisbon (such as Barreiro, Vila Franca de Xira and Amadora) remain at the top of the list of the 50 most sought-after municipalities for renting homes in the second quarter of 2025. Lisbon and Porto themselves do not appear in this ranking, as demand pressure is more evenly spread across the available rental properties, according to idealista/data.
The most sought after rental destinations in Portugal
Analysing the 50 municipalities most sought after for renting homes in Portugal — each with an offer of at least 35 properties advertised in the second quarter of 2025 — two major absences stand out: Lisbon and Porto, ranked 65th and 81st respectively.
But why is rental demand pressure in the two largest cities in the country not among the highest? After all, Lisbon and Porto are the municipalities with the greatest supply of rental homes, with almost 15,000 properties in the capital and around 10,000 in Porto during this period. These figures suggest that rental demand is more spread out across the existing supply, and therefore not as intense.
Moreover, Lisbon has one of the highest average rents nationwide (€1,751 per month), which discourages families from renting in the capital and leads them to consider the surrounding municipalities, where rental costs are lower. This is the case for Barreiro, Vila Franca de Xira and Amadora, which make up the top three in demand, with rents at or below €1,200 per month.
Porto, meanwhile, has a considerably more affordable average rent (€1,216 per month) than the Portuguese capital, but still significantly higher than the rental prices in the five municipalities surrounding Porto that appear in the top 50 most sought-after: Paredes (€968 per month), Penafiel (€760 per month), Gondomar (€1,005 per month), Maia (€1,012 per month) and Valongo (€1,026 per month).
The latest data from idealista/data suggest that the trend of searching for rental homes in the municipalities surrounding Lisbon and Porto continues in Portugal during the second quarter of 2025, as rental prices are more affordable there than in the urban centres (although they tend to rise due to spillover effects). It is also worth noting that the rental market in Portugal has been cooling since the start of the year — including in these metropolitan areas — due to greater appeal in the buying and selling market (low interest rates and new support measures for young buyers).
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Where is it cheapest to rent among the 50 most sought-after municipalities?
The municipalities surrounding Lisbon therefore dominate the top positions in demand for rental homes. As we move down the ranking, there is a geographic diversification towards municipalities near Porto and Faro, as well as other locations from north to south and the islands. The Greater Lisbon area alone accounts for 15 municipalities on this list.
Prices vary significantly among the 50 most sought-after municipalities for renting homes: they start at €582 per month in Covilhã (29th in demand), rising to €1,778 in Palmela, Setúbal (47th place), according to the same data.
The majority of these 50 municipalities with the most attractive rental markets have prices above €1,000 per month (a total of 29 municipalities). Of these, eight have average rents exceeding €1,500 (Palmela, Albufeira, Lagos, Sintra, Oeiras, Funchal, Faro and Olhão).
However, there are also 21 municipalities with rents below the €1,000 threshold, including five with average rents at or below €750 per month: Covilhã, Bragança, Chaves, Castelo Branco and Figueira da Foz.
Methodology
We calculated the ranking of the 50 most sought-after municipalities during the second quarter of 2025, considering only those with a supply of 35 or more rental home listings on idealista (the leading real estate marketplace in Southern Europe). We then analysed the average rental prices in these 50 most in-demand municipalities in Portugal.
Using user behaviour data from idealista, we gathered an indicator of relative demand pressure over supply. This indicator is based on the number of ‘leads’ (email contacts, offer submissions, and properties saved as favourites) received per listing on idealista. On one hand, ‘leads’ reflect housing demand from users. On the other hand, the number of listings measures the available housing supply on the platform.
In this way, the indicator summarises the pressure of rental housing demand over supply in each municipality in Portugal, serving as a measure of market heating or cooling when relative demand is higher or lower, respectively.
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