Access to housing in Portugal is becoming increasingly difficult as house prices reach record growth levels while wages fail to keep pace. However, this reality does not affect the entire country. Inland areas hide municipalities where buying a house can cost less than €35,000.
The most recent data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) reveal that the average price of houses sold in Portugal was €1,923 per square metre (€/m²) over the 12 months ending June 2025, having risen by 15.8% in a year. But when closely examining the 304 municipalities with available data, it is clear that only 52 municipalities have prices equal to or above the national median.
Therefore, in most Portuguese municipalities, it is possible to buy a 100-square-metre (m²) home for less than €192,300 (the national median price). And the further inland one goes, the greater the disparity in house prices.
The 10 towns where it is cheapest to buy a house in Portugal
It is precisely in the inland regions that the 10 cheapest municipalities to buy a house in Portugal are located, across seven districts: Bragança, Vila Real, Guarda, Viseu, Castelo Branco, Coimbra and Santarém.
Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, in the district of Guarda, once again takes the crown as the cheapest municipality in the country to buy a house. Here, the median cost of houses sold was just €203/m² over the 12 months ending June 2025. This means a 100 m² home was sold for €20,300.
Second on the list is Sernancelhe, in the district of Viseu (€264/m²), followed by Almeida, in Guarda (€296/m²), and Vimioso, in Bragança (€299/m²). These four municipalities are the only ones where it is possible to buy a 100 m² home for less than €30,000, according to the INE data released at the end of October.
Raising the price threshold slightly to €35,000 also includes Pampilhosa da Serra, Mação, Vinhais, Manteigas, Idanha-a-Nova and Mesão Frio, completing the top 10 cheapest municipalities to buy a house. In Vila Velha de Ródão and Torre de Moncorvo, houses were also sold for less than €35,000 during this period.
The 10 towns with the highest house prices in the country
The 10 most expensive municipalities to buy a house in the country are concentrated in just four areas: Lisbon, Faro, Porto and Madeira. These are the only municipalities nationwide where house prices start at €3,000/m².
Standing out are two municipalities with prices exceeding €400,000 for a 100 m² house, making them the most expensive in the country: Lisbon (€4,525/m²) and Cascais (€4,267/m²), according to the same data. Next is Oeiras, where houses were sold at a median price of €3,802/m².
The Lisbon district dominates the top three. However, Faro has the most representation in this ranking, with five municipalities among the most expensive to buy property: Loulé, Lagos, Aljezur, Albufeira and Vila do Bispo, in that order.
Outside Greater Lisbon and the Algarve, there are only two municipalities: Funchal, on the island of Madeira (€3,205/m²), and Porto (€3,060/m²).