Although rents are slowing down—having registered an annual increase of 3.5% in the second quarter of 2025—this growth was sufficient to increase the financial effort required to rent a home in the country to 83%, one percentage point (p.p.) above the 82% recorded in the same period in 2024. For home purchases, the national effort rate remained stable at 71% during these two periods, which may reflect a balance between rising home prices (8% in the last year) and falling mortgage interest rates, according to idealista.

Of the 20 cities analysed, Faro saw the highest increase in the rental effort rate over the past year, rising from 70% in the second quarter of 2024 to 90% in the same period in 2025 (an increase of 20 percentage points).

Among the cities with the largest increases in rental effort rates over the past year were Ponta Delgada (15 percentage points), Guarda (4 percentage points), Funchal (3 percentage points), Braga (2 percentage points), Aveiro (2 percentage points), Leiria (1 percentage point), and Viseu (1 percentage point). In Bragança and Castelo Branco, the effort rate remained unchanged during this period.

On the other hand, the rental effort rate decreased in Beja (-8 percentage points), Santarém (-7 percentage points), Portalegre (-4 percentage points), Lisbon (-3 percentage points), Setúbal (-3 percentage points), Viana do Castelo (-3 percentage points), Évora (-2 percentage points), Coimbra (-2 percentage points), Porto (-1 percentage points), and Vila Real (-1 percentage points).

After Faro (90%), Funchal is the city that requires the most financial effort from families to rent a home, requiring 89% of the rent to be spent. The list of cities with the highest rental burden rates this spring continues with Lisbon (83%), Ponta Delgada (75%), Porto (71%), Setúbal (58%), Braga (55%), Viana do Castelo (55%), Aveiro (53%), Évora (50%), Leiria (49%), Santarém (48%), Viseu (44%), Coimbra (42%), Bragança (39%), and Vila Real (37%).

The cities where rent impacts household income the least are Castelo Branco (34%), Guarda (34%), Beja (35%), and Portalegre (35%). It is worth noting that all of the major cities analyzed had burden rates above the recommended 33%.

Home buying

Setúbal saw the greatest increase in the effort rate, rising from 49% to 55% (up 6 percentage points). There were also increases in the effort rate for home purchases in Santarém (4 percentage points), Ponta Delgada (3 percentage points), Lisbon (2 percentage points), Aveiro (1 percentage point), and Guarda (1 percentage point). In Coimbra and Évora, the effort rate remained unchanged during this period.

On the other hand, the home purchase effort rate decreased in 12 major cities: Funchal (-14 percentage points), Vila Real (-14 percentage points), Faro (-10 percentage points), Bragança (-10 percentage points), Porto (-8 percentage points), Viseu (-7 percentage points), Leiria (-7 percentage points), Castelo Branco (-4 percentage points), Braga (-3 percentage points), Portalegre (-2 percentage points), Viana do Castelo (-1 percentage points), and Beja (-1 percentage points).

In the second quarter of this year, the cities with the highest home purchase effort rate were Lisbon (108%), Faro (96%), and Funchal (96%), followed by Aveiro (72%), Porto (69%), Ponta Delgada (66%), Braga (59%), Setúbal (55%), Viana do Castelo (54%), Leiria (50%), and Coimbra. (47%), Évora (46%), Viseu (45%), and Santarém (36%).

It is also noted that there are six cities where it is possible to buy a home with a lower than the recommended 33% loan commitment (where the mortgage payment accounts for less than a third of the family's disposable income): Vila Real (27%), Beja (23%), Portalegre (22%), Bragança (22%), Guarda (17%), and Castelo Branco (17%).