The renting in Portugal is reaching a turning point. This market has been characterized by a lack of supply of homes for rent. But the most recent data from idealista allows us to conclude that the stock of the Portuguese housing stock available for rent soared by 81% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Behind this significant increase in the supply of houses for rent in the country there may actually be some measures from Mais Habitação, which have been in force for six months, among other factors.
Restrictions on Local Accommodation (AL), the end of the Non-Habitual Residents (RNH) regime and the reduction in income taxes may have contributed to increasing the supply of properties on the market.
The next few months will be decisive for observing the behavior of the rental market, taking into account the announced revocation of some measures from Mais Habitação, as is the case with several restrictions on AL, the coercive leasing of vacant houses and the freezing of rents, promised recently by the new Government led by Luís Montenegro.
Despite this scenario of greater supply of houses in the rental market, renting a house in Portugal continues to become more expensive: house rents rose by 2% at the beginning of 2024 compared to the previous quarter.
Thus, the high cost of living in a rented house, especially in large urban centers, combined with low purchasing power may be compromising families' ability to change housing. Still, interest continues to exist, as there are, on average, 34 families interested in each house to rent.
Supply of houses for rent increases in 19 large cities
The housing supply available for rent in Portugal rose in 19 of the 20 district capitals last year. The only exception is Viana do Castelo, where the stock decreased by 2%, according to data from idealista, the main real estate Marketplace in southern Europe.
The biggest increases in the supply of houses for rent are found in Bragança (191%), Porto (129%), Leiria (128%), Lisbon (102%), cities where the number of houses available for rent doubled between the beginning 2024 and the same quarter of 2023.
The list of cities that recorded the biggest increases in houses for rent in this period follows Aveiro (99%), Braga (92%), Coimbra (84%), Castelo Branco (73%), Faro (71%), Vila Real (67%), Beja (64%), Funchal (55%), Setúbal (55%), Guarda (29%), Évora (28%) and Ponta Delgada (17%).
The smallest increases in the supply of houses on the rental market were recorded in Santarém (10%), Portalegre (8%) and Viseu (3%).
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Source: Idealista