According to CNN Portugal, house prices in Portugal have been slowing down for three consecutive quarters, but this does not mean that demand is cooling down, especially in the larger cities and in the Central Alentejo region, particularly among foreign buyers.

According to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), in the first quarter of this year, “the median value of family housing transacted in Portugal, involving buyers with tax domicile abroad, was 2,411 euros per square meter.”

This is 7.7% above the 2,239 euros per square meter recorded in the previous quarter and 58% above the average price recorded in transactions involving purchases with a tax domicile in Portugal, which stood at 1,524 euros per square meter between January and March of this year.

Among the 14 regions in which real estate transactions were recorded in the first quarter of 2023 involving foreign buyers, in only three were the deal prices below the average price of the deal concluded by domestic buyers. And in three regions, the difference exceeded the national average (58%).

INE data also reveals that just considering the transactions carried out in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, the two areas where foreigners buy the most, this differential was much greater.

In Lisbon, the median price of homes per square meter in transactions carried out by buyers with tax domicile abroad was 71.8% higher than the price recorded in transactions by purchasers with tax domicile in Portugal. And, in Porto, this ratio was 70.2%.

“In the case of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, this differential between the prices of foreign and national buyers represents a higher value than the value recorded in the previous quarter (64.3%), unlike the Porto Metropolitan Area (75.6%)” , says INE in a statement.

However, nothing beats the Central Alentejo region. According to INE data, the average price of transactions involving foreigners was 2.5 times (almost 148%) higher than the average price of transactions carried out by domestic buyers.