Families looking, today, for a house to live in Greater Lisbon are faced with a more expensive residential market. The prices of homes to buy and to rent have risen at a faster pace than disposable income in recent years. As a result, most families that have to resort to the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) residential market will not find a home without spending more than 40% of their income on housing costs, and are therefore in a situation of housing inaccessibility.

According to a report by idealista, the housing purchase market is more expensive in Greater Lisbon. In the last three years alone, the median value of sales per m2 of housing in the AML increased by 38.4%, standing at 1,986 euros/m2. With regard to houses for rent, the median value of rents per m2 has risen 53% in the last 4 and a half years, standing at 9.29 euros/m2. In both markets, the rise in prices was more intense in AML Sul.

This means that there is “a spread of price increases from the central municipalities of the AML to those further away from the capital, both in terms of housing sales and rentals”, concludes the study “Diagnosis of Unworthy Housing Conditions in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area”, prepared by a team from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, coordinated by Ana Pinho, Luís Carvalho and David Vale, on the initiative of AML, which had the collaboration of its 18 municipalities.

As the evolution of household wages did not follow the rise in house prices, the study estimates that 62% (942,000) of households with tax residence in the AML are in a situation of inaccessibility to housing, that is, if they have to resort to the market, will not find suitable housing in their municipality of residence without having to spend more than 40% of their income on housing costs, either through acquisition or through renting. Looking at the national scale, it can be seen that 1/3 of households in a situation of housing inaccessibility in the country reside in the AML.