The report detailed that for 2015 as a whole, the average mortgage evaluation stood at €1,034/m2, representing a 2.6% gain on 2014, and saw the market move upwards after stabilising in 2014 following what the report referred to as “sharp falls” in 2012 and 2013.

The December rise of 0.7% was in large part determined by the rises recovered in the North (0.8%) and the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (0.4%) to stand at €923/m2 and €1,272/m2 respectively with all regions experiencing “more intense” annualised growth rates than those seen in 2014.

In terms of property types, the INE reported a month-on-month rise of 0.6% in apartment mortgage applications that came with an average value of €1,095/m2 with the majority of regions reporting rises.

Nevertheless, there were falls of 0.8%, 0.1% and 2.1% in the Centre, Alentejo and Azores regions respectively.

However, in annualised terms, December 2015 closed with the average value of apartments across Portugal standing 5.0% higher than a year earlier with the T2 and T3 layouts each costing €1,083/m2 and €1,033/m2.

As regards the average value for freestanding properties, they saw an average rise in the value of their mortgage surveys of 3.5% with the T3 and T4 typologies now costing €957/m2 and 980/m2.

In more specific terms, the main NUTS II segments of Portugal’s property market saw every region turn in positive growth between 2014 and 2015 with the Lisbon Metropolitan Area putting on 4.4%.