Portugal: asking rents up 6.1% in a year to 18.3 euros a square metre
Asking rents in Portugal rose 6.1% over the year in September to a median 18.3 euros a square metre, while Porto fell 4.4% over the same year.
The facts
- Asking rents in Portugal rose +6.1% year on year in September 2026, in a release dated 2 October 2026.
- The median asking rent is 18.3 euros a square metre a month.
- The annual rate in August was 4.9%, and the publisher describes September as the third consecutive month of rises, each faster than the last.
- Lisbon is the most expensive city to rent in, at a median 25.1 euros a square metre, up 8.8% over the year.
- Porto comes next at 19 euros a square metre, with a change of -4.4% over the year. The publisher names the largest annual falls as Faro at -12.6%, Coimbra at -5.9% and Porto at -4.4%.
- These are asking prices published by advertisers and measured on built square metres, not rents in signed contracts.
What it means for your money
- Expected rental income is rising nationally, by 6.1% in a year. The two largest cities moved in opposite directions.
- Portugal taxes long-term residential letting at a reduced 10% rate while the rent is at or below 2,300 euros a month, and at the standard 25% rate on property income above that threshold, with no flat expense allowance. The threshold is a fixed monthly amount, so where a letting sits relative to it depends on the rent itself, not on the percentage change.
- On the purchase side, the same publisher reported in a separate release dated 1 October 2026 that asking prices for homes for sale rose 7.9% over the year. Prices rising faster than rents point towards a lower gross yield, not a higher one.
- A landlord already letting in Lisbon sits on the rising side at 8.8%, and a landlord already letting in Porto on the falling side at -4.4%. The national 6.1% describes neither of them.
What to watch
- Among the falls the publisher names, Porto's -4.4% is the shallowest, and the next monthly reading will show whether it is a turn or a single month.
- Rents in newly signed contracts are published separately by the national statistics institute, and asking rents and contracted rents do not have to move together.
- The reduced 10% rate runs to the end of 2029 under the law as it stands, so the tax side of the calculation has a known end date.
Sources: idealista, Rendas das casas aceleram ritmo de aumento para 6,1% em setembro, 2 October 2026 https://www.idealista.pt/news/imobiliario/habitacao/2026/10/02/77932-rendas-das-casas-aceleram-ritmo-de-aumento-para-6-1-em-setembro; idealista press release via Cision, Rendas sobem 6,1% em setembro pelo terceiro mes consecutivo, 2 October 2026 https://news.cision.com/pt/idealista/r/rendas-sobem-6-1--em-setembro-pelo-terceiro-mes-consecutivo,c639265273760000000