Portugal House Prices Rose 16.5% in a Year to June 2026, as Sales Fell 6.4%

Portuguese house prices rose 16.5% in the year to the second quarter of 2026, INE’s House Price Index shows. The release came out on 22 September. It is the second quarter in a row that the pace has slowed, and 6.4% fewer homes were sold than a year earlier.

Slower is not cheaper. Prices still rose 3.6% between the first and second quarters of 2026. If you are buying, the cooling may give you a little more room to choose. It does not give you a discount.

What did INE publish?

The House Price Index tracks what households paid for the homes they bought. INE builds it from tax records, the IMT transfer tax and the IMI property tax, and adjusts for features such as size and location, so a quarter full of big houses does not look like a price jump.

Measure (2nd quarter 2026)	Value
Prices, change on a year earlier	+16.5% (1.3 points lower than the 1st quarter)
Existing homes / new homes, on a year earlier	+18.0% / +12.3%
Prices, change on the previous quarter	+3.6% (3.8% in the 1st quarter)
Homes sold, April–June	40,142, down 6.4% on a year earlier
Total value of those sales	€10.7 billion, up 4.2%

Fewer homes sold, for more money in total. Each sale, on average, was worth more than a year ago.

This is a different series from the bank appraisals we covered in August. Appraisals measure what banks value mortgaged homes at. This index comes from the tax records of the sales themselves, so it is not limited to homes bought with a mortgage.

Is the Portuguese housing market turning?

Not on these numbers. The rise is slowing; prices are not falling.

• The annual rate has eased for two quarters running, and the quarterly rise dropped from 4.8% a year ago to 3.6% now.
• INE’s rolling four-quarter rate, which smooths out one-off swings, stands at 17.7%, only 0.2 points below the first quarter.
• Existing homes, ones already lived in, are rising faster than new ones, 18.0% against 12.3%. They make up about three-quarters of the index in 2026.

Industry voices read it the same way. The developers’ association APPII told ECO News it is “a slowdown in the intensity of growth, not a reversal of the trend”, and BPI’s research team expects quarterly rises to ease below 3% in the coming quarters. That is a forecast, not a fact, and we would treat it as one.

Where did sales fall most?

Everywhere, to some degree. Every region sold fewer homes than a year earlier, for the second quarter in a row.

Region	Homes sold, change on a year earlier
Madeira	−15.2%
Algarve	−12.4%
Península de Setúbal	−2.1%
Alentejo	−0.8%
Portugal	−6.4%

Madeira and the Algarve were also the only two regions where the total value of sales fell. The release gives no regional price figures, so it cannot tell you whether prices there are softening. It says only that fewer deals are happening.

What about buyers from abroad?

In this release INE counts buyers by tax residence, not nationality. Buyers tax resident outside Portugal bought 1,890 homes in the quarter, 4.7% of all sales and 10.3% fewer than a year earlier. Within that, buyers from other EU countries fell 14.9%; buyers from the rest of the world fell 5.1%.

The distinction matters if you have already moved. Once you live here and are tax resident in Portugal, INE counts your purchase with everyone else’s. So the foreign-buyer figure measures buying from outside the country, not how many foreigners buy here.

What does this mean if you are buying?

Our read: plan on prices still rising while you search, not falling. Nothing in this release points to prices falling. Three things follow.

• Budget from today’s prices, plus some. At last quarter’s national rate of 3.6%, a €300,000 home would have cost about €10,800 more three months later. That is our arithmetic on the national average, not a forecast for any one home.
• Expect a little less competition, not a lower price. Fewer sales may mean fewer buyers chasing each home. INE’s data cannot show asking prices or how long homes stay listed, so test this against listings in your area.
• Check the area, not the country. A national average hides the Algarve and Madeira, where sales are falling fastest. Local listings and a local lawyer tell you more than the index.

What should you do next?

• Buying for the first time here? Our guide to buying property in Portugal as a foreigner covers the steps, the IMT and stamp duty sums, and what banks lend to non-residents.
• Taking a mortgage? The bank appraisals post explains why the bank’s valuation, not the asking price, caps your loan.
• Still weighing rent against buying? Our Lisbon and Porto hubs quote INE’s median rents for each city.
• No Portuguese tax number yet? Nothing in a purchase starts without one: how to get a NIF.

This is general information, not financial advice. The figures come from INE’s House Price Index release of 22 September 2026; the next one is due on 23 December 2026. Verify the current numbers at ine.pt before you commit money.