Portugal has the highest average house prices in Southern Europe

Buying a house will set you back more on average in Portugal than it will in Italy or Spain.

That’s according to a real estate market analysis conducted by the on-line estate agency idealista which found the residential property in Portugal had the highest average sale price of €2,898m2, exceeding Spain (€2,438m2) and Italy (€1,826m2).

However, Spain topped the league table when it came to the highest annual price increases (+14%), followed by Portugal (+8%), and Italy (+1.5%).

Lisbon is the most expensive city to buy property (€5.769/m2, +2.3%) while Madrid has seen a +25% increase over the the past 12 months reaching €5,642/m2)

Milan came in third place, also over €5,000/m2, although below its historic maximum.

Portugal also leads in rental costs (€16.7/m2), followed by Italy (€14.9/m2), and Spain (€14.6/M2) all in historic maximums.

Barcelona (€23.9/m2) and Milan (€23.7/mw were the two most expensive cities in Southern Europe in which to rent.

That said, the biggest annual rent increases were Rome (+12%) and Madrid (+11%. Lisbon and Porto saw more moderate increases of +3.1% and +2.7%. Lisbon (€22.2/m2( and Madrid (€22/m2 were the next highest cities in which to rent.

As for other Southern European cities showing high demand to buy or rent, these included Valencia (+20.1%), Sétubal (+20%), Palma (+18.4%), and Beja (+17.8%).

Palma registered the highest prices (€4,907/m2), followed by Funchal (€3,645/m2), Malaga (€3,458/m2), and Faro (33,285m2).

Image: Louis Droegen, Unsplash