House rents in Portugal rose 42.1% in ten years

With the professional - and even family - mobility that exists nowadays, the rental market becomes a more attractive regime for many families, given its flexibility. And more and more families are choosing to rent a home in Portugal. The definitive data from the Census 2021, published on Wednesday 23 November, shows that the number of rented homes in Portugal has increased by 16% in the last ten years. And as the supply of houses to rent has not kept up with demand, the average value of rents has leapt by 42.1% in a decade.

"Although the vast majority of dwellings are owner-occupied (70.0%), rented accommodation saw its importance increased by 2.4 percentage points (p.p.) [in 2021] compared to 2011," and now represent 22.3% of all occupied dwellings," highlights the National Statistics Institute (INE) in the bulletin published this Wednesday with the definitive data from the Census 2021, which shows the main trends that have occurred in Portugal over the past decade.

It is in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area where renting has the greatest expression, with 29.2% of dwellings occupied by tenants. The high prices of houses to buy, the criteria for granting home loans and the rigidity that the purchase and sale market presents are factors that may explain the greater demand for houses to rent, both in Greater Lisbon and in the country as a whole.

On the other hand, the Centre region has the lowest proportion of rented homes (15.8%), along with the highest percentage of owner-occupied homes (77.3%), INE also highlights.

How much does it cost to rent a house in Portugal?
With the number of houses rented rising 16 per cent in ten years, and the supply of houses in this market not keeping up with demand, rents have risen - and by a lot - between 2011 and 2021.

"With regards to rented accommodation, the average monthly rent in 2021 was 334 euros, which represents an increase of 42.1% in comparison to the value registered in 2011 (235 euros)", the Portuguese statistics office highlights.

And this increase in the average monthly rent occurred in all regions of the country. It is in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area that the value of rents is highest (average monthly value of 403 euros). At the other extreme is the Alentejo, which is the region of the country where the cost of renting houses is the lowest, with an average monthly rent of 261 euros.