Latest news and stories about housing market in government in Portugal for expats and residents.
Foreign property buyers in Lisbon paid 47 percent more on average for homes than domestic buyers, according to recent real estate transaction data. Median home prices across the capital rose 18.4 percent year-on-year despite a decrease in overall sales volumes. Greater Lisbon remains the most expensive real estate market in Portugal, reaching an average of €4,030 per square metre.
Chega leader André Ventura announced that his party will vote against the government's proposed rental bill, warning it would cause sharp rent increases and evictions. Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) and Portuguese Communist Party (Partido Comunista Português or PCP) leaders criticized the move, accusing Chega of reversing its position to exploit recent street demonstrations. Ventura instead proposed an emergency legislative package centered on Personal Income Tax (Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares or IRS) relief for housing expenses.
André Ventura, born January 15, 1983, is a lawyer, academic, and Portugal's most prominent far-right leader. He founded Chega ("Enough") in 2019 after his PSD mayoral campaign attacked the Romani community. Chega surged from 1.3% in 2019 to 22.8% in May 2025, becoming parliament's second-largest party and making Ventura Leader of the Opposition.
His platform emphasizes immigration restrictions, law-and-order policies, constitutional reform, and contains inflammatory anti-Romani rhetoric that has triggered multiple discrimination convictions and investigations. Politically classified as far-right by international media, Ventura cultivates alliances with European far-right figures including Marine Le Pen and Santiago Abascal.
Chega ("Enough") is a Portuguese far-right populist party founded in 2019 by André Ventura. It positions itself as an anti-establishment movement against what it calls a "rotten and corrupt system" of PS-PSD dominance. The party surged from 1.3% in 2019 to 22.8% in May 2025, becoming parliament's second-largest force with 60 seats. Chega's core platform emphasizes strict immigration control—ending automatic CPLP residency, deporting non-independent immigrants, implementing job-market quotas, and requiring five-year social security contributions before benefit access. It advocates radical constitutional reform, including reducing parliament to 100 members, abolishing the prime minister position for a presidential system, and dismantling public healthcare. Law-and-order policies include life imprisonment and chemical castration proposals.
The party is defined by inflammatory anti-Romani rhetoric, with Ventura convicted multiple times for discrimination. Chega maintains international alignments with European far-right figures including Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal, and Matteo Salvini. Mainstream Portuguese parties, including Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's government, have imposed a cordon sanitaire, refusing coalition with Chega despite its parliamentary strength.
CNN Portugal commentator Pedro Costa highlights that the growing political focus on the nation's housing crisis marks a significant initial victory for recent demonstrators.
The new Legal Regime for Urbanization and Building (RJUE) aims to accelerate licensing and cut bureaucracy, but risks shifting administrative delays to legal uncertainty, raising concerns over risky 'Prior Communication' procedures and uniform application.
Lisbon police have warned housing rights protesters that their camp at Rossio square is unauthorised and must be cleared, while hoping to resolve the standoff without force. Despite the dispersal deadline passing, demonstrators formed human chains to protect their tents, maintaining their protest against current housing policies amid fears of an eviction similar to that in Porto.
The Portuguese government has announced that it will surpass its Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) housing targets by delivering 28,000 public housing units by the end of August.
The housing disease has become a serious urban pathology. It cannot be cured with massages and whispered words. It requires a cocktail of medicines and, if necessary, harsher intervention. Opinion piece by Pedro Campos Costa
The Prime Minister reaffirms the government's commitment to implementing their established housing strategy.
The auxiliary bishop of Porto argues that the Church should examine its heritage, including parish houses, seminaries, and convents, to see how it can contribute to the cause of affordable housing.
Between blank moments in the PSD, eye-contact greetings from the BE and Chega, and menus featuring cuttlefish, the Budget put on a show. But the true wisdom was found on TVI.
The Lisbon City Council approved a new Urban Rehabilitation Area (ARU), which will come into force in January 2027. The opposition criticises the inclusion of luxury zones and the lack of a housing policy.
The Belém Palace hosted “academics, tenants' and landlords' associations, representatives from the construction and public works sector, real estate developers and investors, as well as professional bodies in the field, public housing associations, and representatives of local government,” according to a note from the Presidency.
The President of the Republic, António José Seguro, has urged the government and political parties to engage in dialogue to find concrete and lasting solutions for the housing crisis. Emphasising that housing is a primary concern, Seguro stated that the current lack of access limits the autonomy of young people and the mobility of workers. He suggested that at least 200,000 vacant properties could be placed on the rental market and called for greater European-level support through the European Investment Bank to ensure families can find homes compatible with their incomes.
The President addresses the recent public demonstrations regarding housing issues.
The film of the last few weeks can be told like this: a Government that prioritised the youth and has meritorious goals regarding Housing has managed to lose control of the political narrative. Quite a feat.
Walking through our city centres confronts us with a painful diagnosis: the State owns numerous plots of land and buildings, the vast majority of which are vacant, dilapidated, and in many cases, in a state of ruin. These are urban scars that contrast starkly with the social urgency we face regarding housing. As mayors, our purpose is clear: to identify these assets—which the State sometimes does not even know it owns—and give them new life by transforming them into affordable housing, expanding the public housing stock, and keeping these assets in the public sphere. However, the path to achieving this ambition hits a bureaucratic web. Much of this property is under the remit of Estamo, but taking it over for the municipality involves dealing with heavy demands and painfully slow processes. And this is where the absurdity sets in: current law requires us to pay for these properties according to strict market valuation. Let us be clear: municipalities receive buildings that require extensive renovations and are then forced to pay top dollar for them. As an illustration, the Coimbra City Council is set to receive a property that has caught fire several times recently. To materialise these projects, we have instruments like Controlled Cost Housing (HCC) and Affordable Cost Housing (HCA) at our disposal, which are crucial for the middle class and young people. We are fully available to partner with cooperatives and companies to achieve this. While we find great openness to dialogue within the Government, cordiality does not solve financial asphyxiation. We question the absurdity of receiving ruined property and being the ones who have to pay for it, invariably hearing the resigned response: 'It's the law!' If the law is an insurmountable obstacle to increasing the supply of public housing at fair prices, then it no longer serves the public interest. Requiring municipalities to buy ruins and dilapidated buildings at market prices is an unsustainable burden. Does it make sense to maintain a rule that penalises those who want to rehabilitate cities and retain residents? The country cannot afford to maintain bureaucratic dogmas when the right to housing is at stake. Changing the law is urgent.
Fortunately, we are no longer the illiterate, poor, and isolated country of a few decades ago. Many young people in a position similar to mine will inevitably consider emigrating. It is easier, but Portugal loses out. Now, what is inconceivable is being asked to sacrifice ourselves like our grandparents, many of whom began their lives without a pair of shoes. We aspire to more, and that is what they fought for.
Nearly seven in ten Portuguese people agree with the demand for affordable housing. A Pitagórica poll for TVI and CNN Portugal also shows that the police intervention to remove protesters' tents in Porto received more negative than positive evaluations. Pedro Santos Guerreiro, executive director of CNN Portugal, presents the figures.
Christian workers in Portugal have voiced their support for recent protests, highlighting concerns regarding the housing market, precarious employment conditions, and legislation that makes it easier to evict tenants.
Ana Gabriela Cabilhas, a PSD deputy, denies that the current Government holds responsibility for the ongoing housing crisis, pointing the finger at the PS and the left, while requesting more time for the Government's measures to yield results.
The OA sent a letter to the Ministry of Infrastructure requesting the convening of the Government's advisory body “as soon as possible,” proposing a National Housing System.
In this News Review episode, host Carl Munson and The Resident news writer Natasha Donn catch up after Natasha’s break and discuss her top Portuguese news picks: Alentejo town halls The post News Review: Housing for Teachers, Vandalism Not Helping & Lithium Mining Relief appeared first on Portugal Resident.
Portugal is facing a housing crisis that is felt throughout the country. Young professionals unable to move out of their parents' homes, families spending an unsustainable portion of their income on rent, and workers forced to live far from their jobs represent a country where owning a home has become a distant aspiration for many. While the right to protest is a pillar of democracy, the political instrumentalisation of this issue by certain left-wing sectors risks overshadowing the search for practical solutions. Beyond the protests, the fundamental problem remains: a lack of supply caused by years of bureaucratic obstacles and poor planning. Effective resolution requires a national strategy that focuses on increasing housing supply, streamlining licensing, and providing stability for both tenants and landlords, rather than relying on political slogans.
Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento dismisses tourism as the main culprit for the housing crisis in Portugal and points to the shortage of houses built in the last decade as the central cause of the price hikes. In an interview with the American channel CNBC, the minister argues that the response must involve significantly increasing supply.
Portugal ranks among the nations with the largest share of funds allocated to housing initiatives.
In the state of the city debate, the Mayor of Lisbon responded to socialist accusations regarding housing with figures and questions about the money managed by the PS.
