New rental contracts became 10.7% more expensive in the third quarter of this year, totalling a national average of 8 euros per square meter (€/m2), according to provisional data from the National Statistics Institute (INE).

In the third quarter of this year, there was a year-on-year increase in the average income in the 24 municipalities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants, highlighting Funchal (25.9%) with the highest annual variation and Lisbon with the highest median income (16.18 €/m2), although with an annual rate of change (3.0%) lower than the national rate (10.7%).

Relative to the same quarter of the previous year, the median income decreased in the following NUTS III sub-regions: Terras de Trás-os-Montes (-7.7%), Central Alentejo (-3.4%), Autonomous Region of the Azores (- 3%) and Bahia (-1.8%). The highest rents were recorded in Greater Lisbon (13.53 €/m2), followed by the Autonomous Region of Madeira (10.66 €/m2), Península de Setúbal (10.18 €/m2), Porto Metropolitan Area (9 .09 €/m2), Alentejo Litoral (8.82 €/m2) and Algarve (8.81 €/m2).

Between July and September, 23,684 new rental contracts were registered in Portugal, which represents a drop of 5%, compared to the 24,921 new contracts registered in the same period in 2023, INE also highlights in a statement.

INE also highlights that in the third quarter “ten of the 24 municipalities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants presented annual variation rates in the number of new contracts higher than the national rate (-5.0%), highlighting Barcelos (9.7%) , Seixal (7.6%) and Vila Nova de Famalicão (4.6%), with the biggest variations”.