This is an increase of 14.1% compared to the same period last year and an increase of 12.2% compared to the previous quarter, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).

In addition, the data reveals that foreigners spent more than twice the amount paid by the Portuguese to buy a house in Greater Lisbon and the Algarve.

Among the 25 regions analysed, only Baixo Alentejo (-2.5%) and Beira Baixa (-0.7%) registered a year-on-year decrease in housing prices at the end of last year. In all the others, the median house price increased compared to the same period last year, according to INE.

The national statistics office also highlights the fact that the median value of properties transacted in Portugal involving buyers with tax domicile abroad was 2,302 euros/m2, and that in the case of transactions carried out by buyers with tax domicile in Portugal this value stood at 1,319 euros/m2.

Foreigners paying more

The two areas of the country with the highest median housing prices – the Algarve and AML – were those where the median price of housing purchased by buyers with tax domicile abroad was more than twice the price of that purchased by buyers domiciled in Portugal. In the Algarve, for example, a foreign buyer paid 2,547 euros/m2 and in Greater Lisbon 4,283 euros/m2, while a resident in Portugal paid 1,969 euros/m2 in the Algarve and 1,858 euros/m2 in the AML.

According to data presented by INE, at the end of last year, the year-on-year change in prices increased in 7 of the 11 municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants in the AML, with the acceleration being higher than that observed at the national level (+1.9 p.p.) in Setúbal (+9.8 p.p.), Loures (+3.0 p.p.), Almada (+2.2 p.p.) and Oeiras (+2.1 p.p.).

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