However, the option to buy a house requires savings of an average of 32,585 euros, as one of idealistic published analysis shows. Because in order to get a mortgage in the current situation, you must have a reserve fund to put down a deposit for the new house.
In Portugal, the average price to rent a two-room apartment is 1,026 euros per month, while the monthly mortgage payment for buying the same property will be 1,001 euros per month in the second quarter of 2024. In other words, renting an apartment is 21% more expensive than the monthly mortgage payment that would be required to purchase the same property. Nevertheless, anyone who wants to buy a house has to save an average of 32,585 euros in order to make a down payment on the loan.
“This analysis highlights the complex situation families face when it comes to accessing home ownership. In most markets, families would be able to make their mortgage payments more easily than monthly rent. However, they are often unable to due to a lack of financial liquidity “to take this step,” comments Ruben Marques, spokesman for idealista.
Because “high rents combined with low wages, insecure jobs and high costs of living prevent many families from saving enough to buy a house and achieve a more stable and relieved situation in their wallets. Since the financial system is unlikely to be “If risk criteria are relaxed, the only solution to improve access to housing seems to be to adopt measures that allow an exponential increase in the supply of rental and purchase properties in order to reduce prices and create a healthy real estate market,” concludes Ruben Marques .
Where are the biggest differences?
When analyzing the district capitals with representative samples, it is clear that in Santarém the monthly rent (797 euros) is more expensive than paying the mortgage to the bank (429 euros), with a difference of 86%.
In eight other cities it is more expensive to rent a house than to pay a mortgage to the bank: Guarda (where rent is 75% more expensive), Castelo Branco (58%), Setúbal (23%), Évora (22% ), Portalegre (21%), Bragança (4%), Viana do Castelo (2%) and Vila Real (2%).
In Faro, however, the rent is lower than the bank payment, namely 32% cheaper. Other cities where rent is cheaper than mortgage payments are Aveiro (-21%), Ponta Delgada (-13%), Lisbon (-12%), Viseu (-11%), Leiria (-11%), Funchal ( -10%), Braga (-7%) and Coimbra (-2%). In Porto, the difference between rent and mortgage payments is minimal at -0.4%.
When comparing the districts and islands, the differences between rental costs and monthly mortgage payments in Portugal become even more apparent. In Guarda, rental costs are twice as high as mortgage payments. This is followed by Portalegre (78% more expensive), Évora (75%), Beja (72%), Vila Real (60%), Castelo Branco (59%), Santarém (46%), Bragança (43%), Viseu (35th). %) and Coimbra (23%). Below the national median are Viana do Castelo (20%), Setúbal (15%), Lisbon (14%), Leiria (11%), the island of São Miguel (10%), Porto (6%) and Braga (5% ).
In Faro, rent is 21% cheaper than the monthly payment, followed by the island of Madeira (-10%) and Aveiro (-9%), according to idealista analysis.
