Lisbon is the most expensive municipality in Portugal: price trends, 2026 figures, neighbourhoods and steps to buy from France.
Lisbon has become the most expensive municipality in Portugal. In the first quarter of 2026, the median price of homes sold there reached €5,292 per square metre, according to the INE, the national statistics institute, ahead of Cascais (€5,000) and Oeiras (€4,511). That is more than double the national median of €2,337 per square metre.
This position is the result of a long rise. According to the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index, picked up by the business newspaper ECO in September 2026, real home prices in Lisbon have risen by almost 7% a year over the last decade, and by a further 10% since mid-2025. Lisbon ranks seventh among the 23 cities in this index, on the list of markets at risk of a bubble.
Here is how prices have changed, where the market stands today, what the main neighbourhoods cost and what you need to know before buying from France.
Nationally, the INE house price index was still rising 16.5% over one year in the second quarter of 2026, barely less than in the previous quarter. Existing homes are rising faster (up 18.0%) than new ones (up 12.3%). In a single quarter, the rise reaches 3.6%.
Volumes, meanwhile, are falling: 40,142 homes sold between April and June 2026 in Portugal, 6.4% fewer than a year earlier, for a total of €10.7 billion. Fewer sales at higher prices: a sign of supply not keeping up with demand.
UBS estimates that a skilled worker in the services sector has to work about ten years to buy a 60-square-metre apartment near the centre. As a guide, 60 square metres at the municipality's median price comes to about €317,500, before fees and taxes. Rents, on the other hand, are slowing: UBS notes that their rise has stalled, and the INE measures a 5.1% increase over one year in Lisbon, half the national average.
Within the municipality, the gaps are large. Before comparing listings, place each property in its neighbourhood and its parish (freguesia), the scale used by official statistics.
In a neighbourhood in transformation, the entry price is lower, but how it develops depends on the projects under way: visit at several times of day and find out about the condition of the building before committing.
According to the INE, the median rent for new leases in Lisbon reached €17.79 per square metre in the second quarter of 2026, the highest of the country's major municipalities. Set against the median sale price, this gives an indicative gross yield of about 4% a year, before charges, taxes and vacancy. This calculation compares two different medians: always redo it for the specific property you are targeting.
According to the INE, in the Greater Lisbon sub-region, the median price per square metre paid by buyers with their tax residence abroad was 34.5% higher than that paid by resident buyers in the first quarter of 2026. Their weight remains limited: in the second quarter of 2026, they bought 1,890 homes, or 4.7% of the country's sales, a number down 10.3% over one year. This gap comes partly from the properties they target, often central and renovated, but it is a reason to compare every price with actual sales in the neighbourhood.
The advantages promoted a few years ago to attract foreign buyers have been revised. Do not base your project on a tax regime or a residence permit linked to the purchase without having a tax adviser check the rules in force on the date of your purchase.
If you are buying remotely, a Remoters home finder based in Lisbon can target the neighbourhoods that suit your project, view properties for you, help you check the documents and support you through to the deed. The first conversation and the quote are free.
Short answers to the questions our readers ask, written to stand on their own.
Sources cited in this article
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