Speaking to journalists regarding the presentation of the Braga Urban Observatory, which reports on the city's real estate market indicators, Ricardo Rio added that, in recent years, the municipality has “done everything” in its power “to respond to the many difficulties that the real estate market has had, especially from a housing point of view”.

“We are aware that there has been a worsening in the level of values for acquisition and rental, but, fortunately, also thanks to the investments that were made here, and thanks to the response that the municipality tried to develop to support these same investments and families, we managed to have levels that are still frankly competitive compared to the national reality”, he highlighted.

According to Rio, that competitiveness has to do, above all, with district capitals, but also with other municipalities surrounding Braga.

“If we looked at other municipalities, even around Braga, Braga actually has extremely competitive values”, he emphasised.

According to figures revealed today, the average price of a house in Braga is 1,700 euros per square meter, compared to 4,500 euros in Lisbon and 3,000 in Porto.

The rent per square meter in Braga is below cities such as Setúbal, Aveiro, Évora or Coimbra and is “practically half” the amount in Lisbon.

For Ricardo Rio, Braga has achieved this performance thanks to the “very intense dynamics of the real estate market” in recent years and the “facilitating” role of the municipality for investment.

In 2023, the municipality issued almost 2,000 urban planning licenses, breaking “all records”.

The mayor also highlighted that the Municipal Master Plan (PDM), which is in the final stage of review, will increase the urban area by around 10%, thus providing more space for construction.