Where is there most interest in renting a house? Lisbon and Porto outside the top 50

Living near major urban centers, where rents are more affordable, remains the focus of housing rental searches in Portugal. Proof of this is that the municipalities surrounding Lisbon (such as Barreiro, Vila Franca de Xira and Amadora) continue to lead the top 50 most sought-after municipalities to rent a home in the second quarter of 2025. Lisbon and Porto themselves are outside this ranking, as rental demand is more evenly distributed across the existing supply of homes for rent in these cities, according to data from idealista/data.

When analyzing the 50 most sought-after municipalities to rent a home in Portugal – all of which had a supply of 35 or more properties listed in the second quarter of 2025 – two major absences stand out: Lisbon and Porto, which are in 65th and 81st positions, respectively.

But why isn’t rental demand pressure in Portugal’s two largest cities among the highest? After all, Lisbon and Porto are the municipalities with the largest rental supply, with nearly 15,000 properties available in the capital and around 10,000 in Porto during this period. These figures suggest that rental demand is more dispersed across the available listings, and therefore not as high.

Furthermore, Lisbon has some of the highest median rents in the country (€1,751/month), which discourages families from renting homes in the capital and leads them to look at peripheral municipalities, where rental costs are lower. This is the case in Barreiro, Vila Franca de Xira and Amadora, which make up the top 3 in terms of demand, with median rents equal to or below €1,200/month.

Porto, meanwhile, has a much more accessible median rent (€1,216/month) compared to the Portuguese capital, but still significantly higher than in the five peripheral municipalities around Porto that appear in the top 50 most sought-after: Paredes (€968/month), Penafiel (€760/month), Gondomar (€1,005/month), Maia (€1,012/month) and Valongo (€1,026/month).

Renting a home in Portugal: the 50 most sought-after municipalities

Data from Q2 2025

Source: idealista/data

The latest data from idealista/data suggest that the trend of looking for rental properties in the peripheral municipalities of Lisbon and Porto continued in Portugal in the second quarter of 2025. These areas offer lower rental prices than urban centers (although they tend to rise due to spillover effects). It is also worth noting that the rental market in Portugal has been cooling since the beginning of the year – even in these metropolitan areas – due to the greater attractiveness of the home buying market (low interest rates and new support programs for young people to buy homes).

Where is it cheapest to rent among the 50 most sought-after municipalities?

Peripheral municipalities around Lisbon dominate the top positions for rental demand. As we move down the ranking, there is greater geographical diversification toward municipalities near Porto and Faro, as well as other locations across the country and islands. Greater Lisbon alone accounts for 15 municipalities on this list.

Rental prices vary significantly among the 50 most sought-after municipalities: starting at €582/month in Covilhã (29th in demand) and reaching as high as €1,778 in Palmela, Setúbal (47th in demand), according to the same data.

The majority of the 50 municipalities with the most attractive rental markets have median rents above €1,000/month (a total of 29 municipalities). Of these, eight register rents above €1,500 (Palmela, Albufeira, Lagos, Sintra, Oeiras, Funchal, Faro, and Olhão).

There are also 21 municipalities with rents below €1,000/month. Among these, five have median rents equal to or below €750/month: Covilhã, Bragança, Chaves, Castelo Branco, and Figueira da Foz.

Cheapest municipalities to rent a home among the 50 most sought-after

Data from Q2 2025 – Median rents (€/month)

Source: idealista/data

Methodology

We calculated the ranking of the 50 most sought-after municipalities during the second quarter of 2025 among those with 35 or more rental listings on idealista (the leading property marketplace in Southern Europe). We also analyzed the median rents of these 50 municipalities.

Using user behavior data from idealista, we gathered the indicator of demand pressure relative to supply. This indicator is based on the number of ‘leads’ (email contacts, offer submissions, and saved properties) received per listing on idealista. On one hand, leads measure housing demand from users. On the other, the number of listings measures the rental supply available on the portal. In this way, the indicator synthesizes rental demand pressure relative to supply in each municipality of Portugal, helping measure situations of market overheating or cooling when relative demand is higher or lower, respectively.