Portugal's national statistics office has confirmed what anyone renting in Lisbon already feels in their bank balance: the capital is now in a rental league of its own, while regional cities like Coimbra remain comparatively affordable — for now.
What the numbers actually say
The latest release from INE (Instituto Nacional de Estatística), covering new rental contracts signed in the first quarter of 2026, put the national median rent at €9.46 per square metre, a figure drawn from nearly 40,000 new contracts nationwide. The median rent of the 39,395 new rental contracts across Portugal reached €9.46 per square metre in the first quarter of 2026, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%, faster than the 7.9% recorded the previous quarter.
Lisbon municipality sits well above that national line. Among the 24 municipalities with more than 100,000 residents, the capital again posted the highest figure, with growth that — while still substantial — has actually slowed relative to the national average. In the same report, Coimbra stood out as the one mid-sized city where rents charged by household landlords outpaced those from institutional landlords, a quirk INE flagged specifically: Coimbra was the only sub-region in the country where the median rent charged by household-sector landlords (€9.32/m²) exceeded that of other institutional landlords (€9.10/m²).
Zooming out to sub-regions, the gulf is stark. The highest rents were recorded in Greater Lisbon (€14.38/m²), Madeira (€11.97/m²), the Setúbal Peninsula (€11.35/m²), the Algarve (€10.71/m²) and the Porto metropolitan area (€10.13/m²). Coimbra, by contrast, registered €9.48/m², with 6.8% annual growth — still a rise, but from a much lower base and nowhere near Lisbon's trajectory.
From €16 to €17-plus in a year
A year earlier, the same quarterly release showed just how quickly Lisbon has been climbing. In the first quarter of 2025, the median rent rose year-on-year in 23 of the 24 municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, with Gondomar posting the largest increase (24.4%) and Lisbon the highest median rent (€16.00/m²), though its own annual growth rate of 5.1% trailed the national figure of 10.0%. Twelve months on, Lisbon's median has pushed further still, with reporting on the newest release citing a median close to €17.4/m² for the capital — underlining that even a "slower" growth rate in a very expensive city still adds up to real money for tenants.
Asking prices tell a similar story from a different angle. Real-estate portal data cited alongside the INE release show the median advertised rent in May 2026 stood at 16.3 euros per square metre nationally, down 2.9% year-on-year, while Lisbon remained the most expensive city at 21.8 euros per square metre. Asking prices and signed-contract medians rarely match exactly, but both point the same direction: renting in the capital costs roughly double what it costs in a place like Coimbra.
Why this matters if you're choosing where to live
For foreigners weighing up a move — whether under a D7, a D8 digital nomad visa, or simply relocating for work — this is exactly the kind of gap that should shape the decision, not an afterthought once the lease is already signed. A one-bedroom flat that would cost roughly €1,000–€1,200/month in central Lisbon at current medians could realistically run €600–€700/month for equivalent space in Coimbra, Braga or Aveiro. That difference is meaningful against income thresholds like the D8's roughly €3,680/month minimum, since housing typically eats the largest single share of a relocation budget.
University cities and mid-sized regional hubs also tend to offer shorter commutes, easier parking, and a slower pace that many remote workers and retirees end up preferring once they've tried it — Coimbra, Braga, Aveiro and Viseu regularly come up in that conversation. None of that changes the practical reality that jobs, international schools and specific professional networks remain concentrated around Lisbon and Porto, so the "cheaper" answer isn't automatically the right one for everyone.
A data blackout, now resolved
Worth noting for anyone tracking these figures closely: INE actually stopped publishing this rental series for several months. The publication had been suspended since October 2025, conditional on new data becoming available from the Tax Authority, leaving Portugal without official rental market figures for months. It resumed at the end of June 2026 with a revised methodology built on updated stamp duty filings for rental contracts, meaning direct quarter-to-quarter comparisons before and after that gap should be read with some caution.
What to watch next
Expect INE's next quarterly release, plus the annual rent-update coefficient that governs existing leases, to keep this conversation live through the rest of 2026. Anyone comparing cities before signing a lease should check the current municipality-level figures directly on INE's site rather than relying on older averages, and factor rent into the same budget planning used for visa income thresholds. Our relocation hub walks through how to weigh housing costs, income requirements and daily life across Portugal's main cities before you commit to one.
The direction of travel is clear even if exact figures keep shifting: Lisbon is pulling further away from the rest of the country, and for now, Coimbra and its peers remain the more forgiving option for a tighter budget.
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