While in Greater Lisbon and the Algarve, purchasing housing is 50% more expensive than nationally, in the Alentejo and the Centre buying a house has an average cost of less than €150,000, according to a report by idealista.

There are five regions of the country where the price of houses sold was lower than the national average calculated for the third quarter (221,272 euros), taking into account the most recent data from INE. The cheapest areas of all to buy a house were Alentejo (113,329 euros) and the Centre region (124,095 euros), revealing prices below €150,000 and almost 50% lower than the country's average.

Alongside these are the West and Tagus Valley (155,977 euros, 30% lower than the national average), the Autonomous Region of the Azores (164,344 euros; -26%) and the North (185,212 euros; -16%), also reveal the institute's data published on Monday, December 23.

The North region plays a prominent role in the distribution of transactions at a geographic level, having been the territory that recorded the largest share of homes sold (12,407 sales, which represented 30% of the total). The Centre region also aroused interest among families to live there, having been the scene of 6,497 house sales (16% of the total). The North is, therefore, the most popular region to buy a house in the country and one of the five territories where house prices are lower than the national average.

At the opposite end of the scale, there are five other regions where buying a house is more expensive than nationally. In first place is Greater Lisbon, with a cost of 371,704 euros, a value 68% higher than the average price of houses sold nationally. In second is the Algarve (342,972 euros, +55%), followed by the Madeira region (238,314 euros, +8%), Setúbal Peninsula (226,159 euros, +2%) and Porto Metropolitan Area (223,258 euros, +1 %).

Despite having the highest housing cost in the country, Greater Lisbon continues to attract families to buy homes, with 7,949 sales recorded, which represents 19% of the total, the second largest share behind the North region. The cheapest region of all, Alentejo, accounted for just 5% of total transactions, one of the lowest regional weights, just ahead of the islands.