LISBON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- House prices in Portugal rose by 17.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, the highest increase among all European Union(EU) members, according to data published Thursday by Eurostat.
The figure represents a slight deceleration from 18.9 percent annual rise recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025, when Hungary had posted a steeper increase.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Portugal's house prices rose 3.8 percent, also a slight deceleration from 4.0 percent recorded in the previous quarter. It was still the second-highest sequential increase in the EU, only behind Bulgaria where house prices jumped 6.2 percent in the first quarter following the country's adoption of the euro on Jan. 1.
Analysts from the Bank of Portugal and real estate networks attributed the continued price growth to a severe imbalance between demand and supply, with the number of buyers far exceeding the number of available properties on the market, even as transaction volumes show a slight slowdown.
Experts also said that the sustained demand from international investors, foreign retirees and digital nomads, whose income and capital levels significantly exceed national average, acted as a structural factor pushing prices beyond the reach of local buyers. ■
