📘 New Guide Published Building Your Own Home in Portugal in 2026 — A Practical Guide to Autoconstrução, Buying Building Land, Câmara Licensing Under the Reformed RJUE, and the New Partial VAT Refund on
The sea off Faro warmed to 26.1°C through two marine heatwaves between mid-June and early July, a Portuguese Navy coastal buoy recorded. The stronger event ran about 2.2°C above the seasonal threshold, part of a warming trend along the Algarve's touristed coast.
Portuguese book sales fell 1.9% by volume in the second quarter to 3.26 million copies, the first decline since the pandemic despite the Lisbon Book Fair. Revenue slipped 1.8% to €47.25 million, with flat prices pointing to fewer buyers rather than costlier books.
Livre opens its 17th congress in Sintra with a leadership contest, as founder Rui Tavares steps down as spokesperson after four years. Three lists compete, the frontrunner proposing dual spokespeople and a new secretary-general, while challengers demand less centralised power.
Portugal has become the EU's ninth most populous state, with 11,424,031 residents on 1 January 2026, up 36,809 on the year. With deaths outnumbering births, the entire increase comes from net migration — a reliance now at the centre of the country's politics.
Grupo Casais of Braga and Spain's ACR have created CREE Iberia, a 50/50 company to build with prefabricated timber-and-concrete systems across the Iberian Peninsula. It targets hotels, student and senior housing and 'flex living', betting factory-made construction can beat the building site.
Sonae's Finnish pet-care arm Musti has agreed to buy three Gaston pet stores from ICA, Sweden's largest retailer, folding them into its Arken Zoo chain. The deal ends ICA's short-lived pet pilot and extends a pan-European buying spree that already includes Portugal's ZU.
