Idealista's May Rent Index Logs a 2.9% Year-on-Year Decline to €16.30/m² — Fourth Straight Monthly Drop With Porto at -7.7% and Viseu at -8.4%

Asking rents in Portugal fell 2.9% year-on-year in May, the fourth consecutive monthly decline on Idealista's price index released on Tuesday 2 June, with the national median at €16.30 per square metre — down from the all-time high of €17/m² recorded in October 2025. The reading consolidates a downtrend that began at the start of the year, with monthly variations of -1.9% in January, -1.4% in February, -1.2% in March and -2.7% in April.

The print is the first clear sign in three years that the squeeze tenants have lived with since the pandemic-era boom is loosening at the headline level — even if the picture below the average is far from uniform across the country. Eleven of the 15 district capitals analysed by Idealista still posted year-on-year increases in May, but the four large urban markets that drive the bulk of transactions are now all pulling the average down.

Lisbon remains the most expensive city to rent in, with a median asking price of €21.80/m² — though even the capital recorded a 2.7% annual decline. Funchal sits second at €16.90/m² and Porto third at €16.40/m², with Porto leading the major-city falls at -7.7%. Braga shaved a more modest 0.9%, while Viseu posted the steepest drop among capitals at -8.4%.

The capitals at the top of the gainers' table are smaller secondary markets: Viana do Castelo lifted 17.5% year-on-year, followed by Castelo Branco (+14.8%), Faro (+11.2%) and Funchal (+10.8%). At the bottom of the price ladder, Viseu and Castelo Branco remain the cheapest capitals at €7.60 and €7.40 per square metre respectively — less than a third of the Lisbon median.

District and regional read

Across the 19 districts and autonomous regions tracked, 13 territories were still up on a 12-month basis, led by Évora (+14%) and Viana do Castelo (+10.1%). The sharpest district declines came in Guarda (-14.3%), Coimbra (-11.6%) and Viseu (-6%) — three interior districts where supply additions tend to land in a thin market and weigh heavily on the index.

By price, Lisbon district remains the most expensive at €20/m², followed by Madeira (€16/m²) and Faro (€15.40/m²). At the cheap end, Guarda (€6/m²), Portalegre (€6.70/m²) and Viseu (€7.20/m²) anchor the rural interior at roughly a third of Lisbon's level.

At the regional level the picture splits cleanly between coast and interior, and between mainland and islands. Four of the seven regions registered annual increases — led by the Açores (+12.5%), Alentejo (+9.3%) and Madeira (+8.8%) — while the Norte (-6.4%), Centro (-2.4%) and Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (-2.2%) registered declines. The Área Metropolitana de Lisboa remains the most expensive region at €19.40/m², followed by Madeira (€16/m²) and the Algarve (€15.40/m²); the Açores (€11.40/m²) and the Centro (€10.10/m²) sit at the affordable end.

For a tenant trying to read the cycle, the numbers say two things at once. The headline median is now meaningfully off the October 2025 peak — €0.70/m² off, or roughly 4.1% — and Porto's 7.7% drop is the biggest annual fall the Portuguese index has logged for a major capital since the post-Troika cycle. But Lisbon at €21.80/m² is still 41% above the cheapest district capital and remains the binding constraint on monthly household budgets in the Área Metropolitana, where Idealista's regional reading slipped only 2.2%.