Listings for sale fall 30%+ across Portugal in 2025 while rental supply jumps 18%+. Lisbon, Porto and Setúbal lead shifts in market dynamics.
New data shows a sharp structural shift in Portugal’s housing market between 2024 and 2025: supply for purchase has contracted dramatically while the rental market is expanding.
Overall declines and gains
• Apartments for sale fell from 1,524,674 in 2024 to 1,057,552 in 2025 — a drop of 467,122 listings (more than 30%).
• Houses for sale also declined significantly, down more than 19% year-on-year to 774,416 listings (184,059 fewer).
• By contrast, rental supply grew strongly, with overall renting increasing by more than 18% as demand and listings for lease gained traction.Major markets show the sharpest imbalances
Porto continues to have the largest stock of apartments for sale in 2025, with 362,575 listings, despite a 26.8% reduction from the prior year. Lisbon — historically the most active sales market — recorded the steepest fall among major districts, with apartment listings dropping by more than 40% to 251,763. Setúbal and Aveiro also saw notable sales declines: Setúbal’s apartments fell 32.9% to 90,071, and Aveiro’s to 60,088 (-23%).
Rental growth is concentrated in urban centers
Rental apartment listings increased across the main urban districts:
• Lisbon: 61,816 apartments for rent (+11.5%)
• Porto: 34,010 (+20.4%)
• Setúbal: 8,905 (+28.6%)
• Braga: 6,902 (+33.2%)
• Faro: 6,029 (+5.1%)Houses for rent followed a similar pattern, with Porto (3,419; +14.7%), Setúbal (3,027; +18.6%) and Braga (1,655; +27.2%) reporting the largest percentage gains. These rises reflect professional mobility, tourist pressures and employment concentration in urban and coastal districts.
Some exceptions in purchase market
While purchase supply is broadly down, Faro stands out as a partial exception: houses for sale in the district rose slightly to 82,729 (+1.5%), a resilience tied to tourist demand and second-home purchases.
Market interpretation and implications
The data show a clear change in the structure of the housing market in Portugal. The reduction in the supply for purchase, especially in large urban centers, contrasts with the growth of renting, reflecting not only the economic and financial context, but also new dynamics of mobility, lifestyles and investment decisions.
What this means for consumers and investors
• Buyers: Reduced sales supply, especially in Lisbon and Porto, increases competition for purchase properties and may push buyers to expand search areas, consider smaller units, or postpone decisions until more supply returns.
• Renters: Growing rental options provide more choices, but the concentration of listings in urban centers means rental prices and demand pressures will vary by neighborhood and tourist season.
• Investors: The trend suggests stronger short- to medium-term opportunities in the rental market, particularly in districts with high professional mobility and tourist flows. Long-term investors should weigh location-specific resilience (e.g., Faro) against shrinking sales inventories elsewhere.The figures point to an increasingly asymmetric Portuguese real estate market: sales inventories are tightening broadly, while rental supply is expanding and concentrating in major urban and tourist-influenced districts. For prospective buyers, renters and investors, location, property type and intended use are now more decisive than ever when navigating the market.
