One of the solutions to address the housing access crisis in Portugal involves stimulating the rental market by increasing supply, as acknowledged by the Government. One way to achieve this is by purchasing homes and putting them on the rental market — a type of business that can be quite attractive both for investors and for wealthy families. This is because buying a home to rent in Portugal recorded a gross yield of 6.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to idealista data. Moreover, this type of housing investment involves lower risk compared to the end of 2024.
Investing in the purchase of a property to place it on the rental market generated a gross yield of 6.5% at the end of 2025, down 0.4 percentage points (pp) compared to the same period in 2024 (6.9%). This means that the risk associated with this type of business fell over the past year. Even so, housing yields remain 1 pp higher than those recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021, when they stood at 5.5%.
Gross yield is the return on housing investment before taxes, fees and other costs. This calculation takes into account the cost of buying and renting at the end of 2025, at a time when house prices are rising much faster than rents (6.8% and 0.9%, respectively, in December, according to the idealista price index). It is also important to remember that the lower the yield, the lower the risk of the investment (and vice versa).
Buying a home to rent: how much does it yield in Portugal?
Gross housing yield (%)
2
4
6%
6.8%
5.5%
6.3%
7.3%
6.9%
6.5%
Q4 2020
Q4 2021
Q4 2022
Q4 2023
Q4 2024
Q4 2025
Source: idealista
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Which cities are the most profitable for investing in housing?
Among the district capitals and islands analysed, Bragança was the most profitable city for investing in housing, with a yield of 6.7%, followed by Coimbra (6.3%), Santarém (6.1%), Leiria (6.0%) and Ponta Delgada (5.9%). However, these cities also involve higher investment risk, as there may be greater difficulty in renting out the property or in achieving future property appreciation.
With intermediate levels of profitability for buying a home to rent are Braga and Évora (both at 5.7%), Porto and Setúbal (5.4%), Viseu (5.3%), Viana do Castelo (5.2%), and Funchal and Aveiro (both at 5.0%).
Lisbon recorded the lowest housing yield, at 4.4%, despite having some of the highest rents in the country, which suggests that the indicator is penalised by high property purchase prices. Still, not everything is negative, as this means the investment risk is lower, with a higher likelihood of renting out the property and of the asset appreciating, for example.
How much does buying a home to rent yield in each city?
Median values
Data from the 4th quarter of 2025
Table with 4 columns and 14 rows. (column headers with buttons are sortable)
District capitals (or autonomous region capitals) Rents (euros/m²) Sale price (euros/m²) Gross housing yield
Bragança 6.2 1,104 6.7%
Coimbra 11.9 2,256 6.3%
Santarém 8.7 1,703 6.1%
Leiria 8.9 1,784 6.0%
Ponta Delgada 11.8 2,371 5.9%
Évora 11.8 2,488 5.7%
Braga 10.1 2,149 5.7%
Setúbal 13.5 3,010 5.4%
Porto 17.4 3,885 5.4%
Viseu 7.8 1,760 5.3%
Viana do Castelo 9.5 2,203 5.2%
Funchal 16.2 3,861 5.0%
Aveiro 11.5 2,762 5.0%
Lisbon 22.1 5,995 4.4%
Source: idealista
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This analysis also made it possible to calculate the yield of other real estate segments at national level, with offices showing a return of 8.1%, retail units 8%, and garages 5.8%.