Portugal just topped a global ranking nobody wants to lead

Portugal is number one in the world for house price growth. It is not the kind of first place anyone was hoping for, unless you are already in the property market. It's Thursday, 3 September. Twenty-nine degrees. Air quality: 34 (Good). Here's what you need to know.

🗞️ PORTUGAL LEADS THE WORLD IN HOUSE PRICE RISES

Portugal recorded the strongest annual rise in real house prices of any of the 57 economies tracked by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the global body that acts as a bank for the world's central banks, in the first quarter of 2026. Adjusted for inflation, Portuguese house prices were 15.2% higher than a year earlier. North Macedonia was second at 12.5%, Bulgaria third at 10.8%.

What makes this striking is that the rest of the world is moving in the opposite direction. Real house prices globally fell 1.2% over the year. They dropped 7% in China and Canada, and 2% in both the US and the UK. Even within Europe, where prices held up better, the euro-area average rose just 2.6%. Portugal's 15.2% is not just high, it is an outlier.

The BIS figures are adjusted for inflation, which strips out general price rises and shows how property is really moving. On that basis, Portugal is not just expensive, it is getting more expensive faster than anywhere else on the planet.

More recent asking-price data tells the same story. idealista put Portugal's median asking price at €3,207 per square metre at the end of August, 7.5% higher than a year earlier, though roughly flat on July, which may hint the market is finally losing a little momentum. The Algarve remains among the priciest markets: Faro saw an 18.3% annual jump in August, the biggest of any district capital.

The cause is the same structural problem that has driven every housing story this year. Demand, including from international buyers and renters, keeps outpacing a supply of homes that is not being built fast enough. Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve feel it most.

The government is trying to shift the supply side, cutting VAT on qualifying construction to 6% and moving to speed up planning and licensing. But construction takes years, and permits, land and labour costs all slow it down. None of it produces homes overnight.

For anyone renting or trying to buy here, the takeaway is blunt. While buyers in most major economies are seeing prices ease, Portuguese prices are still climbing, and faster than anyone's. The affordability squeeze that has defined life in Lisbon is not loosening yet.

Bottom line: Portugal is the global leader in house price growth, in a year when most of the world saw prices fall. Until supply catches up with demand, that gap is where the pressure lives.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Chega has tabled a motion of no confidence in the government. Having threatened it for a week, André Ventura's party formally submitted the motion on Tuesday after PM Luís Montenegro refused to dismiss Luís Neves, the Minister of Internal Administration, who is facing allegations tied to his previous role as head of the Judicial Police. Ventura called Neves's position "grotesque" and said he was answering President Seguro's call for swift conclusions to the affair. Parliament's conference of leaders is expected to set a date for the debate in the coming days. The motion is very unlikely to pass: it would need an absolute majority, the Socialists have already distanced themselves, and Chega's last no-confidence motion, in February, was defeated with only Chega voting for it. But its filing deepens the instability around a minority government the V-Dem democracy report flagged only last month.

A British woman has died after being stabbed at a hotel in Albufeira. Portuguese police are investigating the death, which happened in a corridor of the four-star Alfagar Alto da Colina aparthotel on Tuesday evening. A 34-year-old British man has been detained on suspicion of murder. A young child who was present has been taken into care. An arrest is not a verdict, and the investigation is ongoing.

A new bus route will connect Lisbon and Spain from €10. From 11 September, Rede Expressos will run a daily service between Lisbon and Badajoz, just over the Spanish border, stopping at Montemor-o-Novo, Évora, Estremoz, Borba and Elvas along the way. Two buses run in each direction daily, with online fares starting at €10, and the route connects to Lisbon Airport. For readers who like a cheap weekend across the border, or a different way to reach the rest of Spain, it is a useful new option.

Metro works will disrupt Praça de Espanha for most of September. The renovation of the Blue Line station enters a new phase from today. The platform towards Santa Apolónia, closed since mid-August, reopens on Thursday, but the platform towards Reboleira now closes until 28 September. The station's South Atrium will also shut from 14 September to 12 October. Metro de Lisboa suggests using São Sebastião or Jardim Zoológico instead, or, if you need Praça de Espanha itself, riding to the next station and changing to a train coming back the other way.

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

VEZO COFFEE (GRAÇA)

Vezo Coffee is a small, charming specialty coffee shop on Rua da Graça, opened by Maria Clara Lima and Pedro Lima, a young Brazilian couple who came to Lisbon around coffee as much as anything else. The room is calm and handmade in feel, decorated with work by artists from the Lisbon Art Collective and furnished with second-hand and self-built pieces.

The coffee is filter, roasted by the Porto microroaster von&vonnie, and the beans rotate often, from Mexico, Ethiopia or Rwanda, each served with a card explaining what is in the cup. There is matcha, tea, fresh orange juice and smoothies too. The food is made in-house apart from the bread, from a tapioca-and-cheese cake and pulled pork with passionfruit chutney to horse-mackerel escabeche with labneh on brioche. In the late afternoon, they pour Portuguese natural wines. Pedro makes the coffee, Maria cooks.

Worth knowing before you go: it is small and calm rather than a laptops-and-meetings sort of café, and it is open Tuesday to Sunday, roughly 9am to 4pm, closed Mondays. Hours can shift, so a glance at their Instagram (@vezocoffee) before a planning a trip is wise.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: ask which single-origin is on that day and let them tell you how they would brew it. The card that comes with the cup is a lovely touch, but Pedro knows the beans inside out and is happy to talk you through the differences.

📅 WHAT'S ON

See you tomorrow morning.

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