According to a report by idealista, taking into account 92,770 new rental contracts signed in the second half of 2023 (last 12 months), it appears that house rents increased by 5.2% compared to the previous quarter and 9.8% compared to the same period in 2022.

In large urban centres - such as the municipalities of Lisbon, Porto, Sintra and Vila Nova de Gaia - families rent houses and at higher prices. This trend encourages an increase in the median cost of renting a house in Portugal, which stood at 6.86 euros/m2 last year.

However, there are 171 of the 207 municipalities with data available by INE (out of a total of 308), where house rents are lower than the national median. And in 38 municipalities it is possible to rent a home for less than half the median price (i.e. less than 3.43 euros/m2).

It is possible to rent a 100 square meter (m2) house for less than 300 euros/month in the 10 cheapest municipalities in the country, INE data shows. Vila Nova de Foz Côa, in the Guarda district, was actually the cheapest of all in the second quarter of 2023 (last 12 months), as the median rental cost was just 2.13 euros/m2.

In second place is Belmonte, in the Castelo Branco district, where renting a house cost 2.22 euros/m2 in this period. And thirdly, Tarouca, in Viseu, it is possible to rent a house for 2.26 euros/m2.

In addition to the municipalities in the interior of the country, this ranking is marked by the presence of a municipality located in the district of Porto: Baião. Here the houses were rented in the first half of the year for the median price of 2.69 euros/m2, the Portuguese statistics office also reveals.

The 10 most expensive municipalities to rent a house are….

Unsurprisingly, it is on the country's coast that the municipalities where renting a house is most expensive. 6 of the 10 municipalities are also located in the Lisbon district.

In the first place is the country's capital, where renting a house had a median cost of 14.11 euros/m2 in the last 12 months ending in June 2023. This means that a 100 m2 house was rented for more than 1,400 euros a month.

Next are Cascais and Oeiras, where house rents stood at 13.56 euros/m2 and 12.32 euros/m2 in that period, respectively. In fourth place is the municipality of Porto, with median rents of 10.78 euros/m2, and in fifth is Amadora (10.14 euros/m2).

In the second half of the table, Almada, Matosinhos, Odivelas, Lagos and Loures appear, with monthly rental prices above 8.9 euros/m2 and below 10 euros/m2, the data also reveals.