Houses under 150,000 euros are the most sought-after for sale in Portugal

New trends are emerging in the new economic context. With pressure on purchasing power and rising mortgage interest rates, families are looking for cheaper housing to borrow less from banks. This has been reflected in demand: properties costing up to 150,000 euros are the most sought-after in most of Portugal's county centers.

However, the supply of housing at this price does not meet the high demand in most cities. Examples of this are Lisbon, Porto and Faro, where the demand for housing up to 150,000 euros is high, but the supply is less than 2%.

The study idealista/data leaves no room for doubt: by studying the supply of housing in Portugal, it can be seen that housing costing up to 150,000 euros is in demand in 11 of the 20 analyzed county centers. In the other cities, the demand for affordable housing is average.

This confirms the axiom "The cheapest houses on the market are the most sought after". However, the supply of housing priced up to 150,000 euros is not the greatest in most cities in the country. In 13 cities, less than one fifth of housing is offered at a price of up to 150,000 euros. This is the case in Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Funchal, where the supply of affordable housing is 2% or less. Because of the high demand here, it is quickly absorbed.

On the other hand, in the cities of Beja, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Guarda and Portalegre, the supply of housing under 150,000 euros accounts for more than half of the total number of residential properties, the same data show. Here, the demand for affordable housing is average, except in Beja, where it is high.

Search properties in Portugal by price range - county centers

• Up to 150 thousand euros
• 150,000 - 300,000 euros
• 300,000 - 450,000 euros
• 450,000 - 600,000 euros
• 600,000 - 800,000 euros
• 800,000 - 1,000,000 euros

Aveiro: High, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium

Beige: High, Medium, Medium

Mash: Average, Average, Average, Average, Average, Average

Bragança: Average, Average

Castelo Branco: Average, Average

Coimbra: Average, Average, Average, Average, Average, Average

Evora: Average, Average, Average, Average

Faro: High, High, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium

Funchal: High, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium

Guarda: Average, Low, Average

Leiria: High, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium

Lisbon: High, High, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium

Ponta Delgada: High, Medium, Medium, Medium

Porto Alegre: Average, Average, Average

Porto: High, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium, Medium

Santarem: High, Medium, Medium, Medium

Setúbal: High, Medium, Medium, Medium

Viana do Castelo: High, Medium, Medium, Medium

Vila-Real: High, Medium, Medium, Medium

Viseu: Average, Average, Average, Average, Average, Average

Real estate for sale: offers ranging from 150,000 to 300,000 euros are available in all cities.

Housing prices will continue to rise in 2023, despite a decrease in demand. This trend is driven by a limited supply of housing, a shortage of construction labor, and rising prices for materials and raw materials. That is why the largest supply of homes for sale has "migrated" to higher price ranges.

Most of the houses for sale in 8 out of the 20 largest cities in Portugal are priced between 150,000 euros and 300,000 euros. This is the case in Braga, Coimbra, Évora, Leiria, Santarém, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, and Viseu. Aveiro, Beja, Castelo Branco, Ponta Delgada, Porto, and Setúbal also have a significant supply in this price range (more than 35% and less than 50% of the total in each city).

What is noticeable is that, unlike the cheapest houses available for purchase, in this price range (from 150,000 euros to 300,000 euros), the housing supply accounts for at least 15% of the total.

The demand for housing in the range of 150,000 to 300,000 euros is mostly average, except in Faro and Lisbon, where it is high. However, in these cities, the supply of housing at these prices accounts for about 20% of the total, which is relatively low to meet the current demand needs.

It is important to pay attention to the upper price range of housing (from 300,000 to 450,000 euros) to find the most significant offer in Faro (46.7%), Funchal (39.5%), and Lisbon (29.5%). In this price range, demand is average in all three cities.

With the rise in housing prices, the supply in most cities is becoming limited. However, there are exceptions. As one might expect, currently in the most expensive cities, the supply of luxury housing is broader than in the more affordable ones. This applies to Faro, Funchal, Lisbon, and Porto. In the capital, the supply of houses priced between 800,000 and 1 million euros is 15 times greater than the supply of housing costing up to 150,000 euros. Even within this price range, demand remains average.

Real estate for sale in Portugal by price ranges - regional centers - Q2 2023

Methodology

To conduct this research, idealista/data examined the properties listed on idealista based on price range and the location of surrounding centers. Specifically, the number of listings measures the housing supply available on the portal for each city in the second quarter of 2023. Based on the behavior of idealista users, we calculated the demand pressure indicator on supply. This indicator is based on the number of contacts (related to emails, saved to favorites, etc.) received for each idealista listing. Thus, the number of contacts reflects the demand for housing in each city and in each price range. This demand indicator is used to measure situations when the market is heating up or cooling down, depending on high or low relative demand, respectively.

To determine the state of relative demand, the median number of contacts for each city during the same period was calculated, and the classification was made based on whether the result falls into one of the following categories:

• If the demand is 1.5 points below the median for this city, the demand is low;
• If this value is between 1.5 points below and 1.5 points above the median, demand is considered average;
• If the value is 1.5 points above the median, demand is considered high.