According to the most recent data from idealista, the highest house rents were observed in Milan, Lisbon and Barcelona, all being above 20 euros per square meter (euros/m2).

Porto and the Portuguese capital stood out for presenting the most significant increases in rents in annual terms.

In the month of September, prices for houses for rent in Portugal even reached a new record: they reached 15.5 euros/m2, after registering a year-on-year increase of 31.1%. This rise in house rents in our country is explained by the high demand for housing in the rental market for a low residential supply, which has been decreasing month after month due to high tax burdens and market uncertainty.

The median cost of renting a house in Portugal even exceeds the median rental price in Italy (13.5 euros/m2) and Spain (11.8 euros/m2), where house rents fell slightly in September compared to August, but rose 13.1% and 9.3% year-on-year, respectively.

Looking at house rents in the six main cities in southern Europe, it is clear that they all reached record values in September. It is in Milan (23.1 euros/m2), Lisbon (20.8 euros/m2) and Barcelona (20 euros/m2) where it is most expensive to rent a house, followed by Madrid (17.7 euros/m2), Porto (16.5 euros/m2) and Rome (15.2 euros/m2), the data shows.

Regarding the evolution of prices, it is observed that it was Porto (34.6%) and Lisbon (32.9%) that recorded the biggest increases in house rents between September 2022 and September 2023. The Spanish capital and Italy registered the most moderate increases among the six cities analysed, with 10.7% and 9%, respectively.