Rising Rents and Lack of Student Housing haunt Portugal’s Rental Market
High rents in Portuguese towns and cities drive tenants to seek rooms or house-shares rather than rent a property on their own, according to a report by newspaper Correio da Manhã. The newspaper stated that the average age of sharers has risen to 33, showing that it is no longer just students opting for this type of accommodation.
Portugal’s rental prices have risen sharply in recent months and the rental market comprises now more of short-term rather than long-term rental contracts too. The country’s National Tenants’ Association stated that it is no longer viable to rent properties and estate agents like Colliers International and JLL report that a lack of supply of properties is driving up house prices and rents in the residential market in Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve. This is confirmed by the monthly survey index conducted by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Confidencial Imobiliário.
Further price rises of around 4.5% are predicted for the next 12 months, with the growth rate estimated to accelerate to ca. 5.5% on average over the next five years. Last year property prices rose by 12.8% nationally, but in central Lisbon’s historic districts prices rose by 21.1% year-on-year, in fact doubling since 2013 …