Portugal is the country in Europe in second place in terms of house price increases
Portugal is the country in Europe in second place in terms of house price increases

The real estate market is red-hot in Portugal. Never before have so many houses been sold – 153,292 in 2017, 26,186 more than the previous year (20.6%), and prices are in line with this trend. According to the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estatística or INE), they rose 9.2% last year compared to 2016. The latest Eurostat data confirm this scenario: Portugal had the second highest increase in property prices in the European Union in the fourth quarter of last year (10.5%).

Only in Ireland did house prices go up more than in Portugal in the last three months of 2017, compared to the same period last year, by 11.8%. In third place on the podium is Slovenia (10%).

These values are much higher than the average in the eurozone and the EU, with 4.2% and 4.5% respectively.

It’s also worth pointing out that property purchases became more expensive in all EU countries except Italy, where there was a 0.3% fall in the last quarter of 2017. However, Eurostat does not have data for Greece.

Eurostat