Portugal tops OECD housing affordability decline
Portugal saw the sharpest worsening in housing affordability in the OECD in 2025 and over the past decade, highlighting mounting pressure on households and the property market.
Portugal recorded the sharpest deterioration in housing affordability among 33 OECD countries in 2025 and over the past decade, according to ECOnews calculations based on the OECD’s house-price-to-income indicator. The shift points to growing pressure on households, tighter access to home ownership and continued strain in Portugal’s residential market.
The OECD indicator for Portugal rose from 147.3 points in 2024 to 166.7 in 2025, meaning house prices are now 66.7% higher relative to household income than they were in 2015. That marks a 13.2% worsening in a single year, with almost a third of the decade-long deterioration occurring in 2025 alone.
In practical terms, if buying a home absorbed the equivalent of five years of household income in 2015, it now requires about 8.3 years. Portugal has ranked worst in the OECD affordability table since 2023, and in 2025 its reading stood 52 points above the OECD average of 114.7.
Domestic data show the same trend. Portugal’s housing price index rose 17.6% in 2025, the highest rate in the historical series, while the median transaction value reached €2,111 per square metre in the fourth quarter and bank appraisals hit €2,254 per square metre in August.
The deterioration reflects structural supply constraints, weak new construction capacity and strong demand pressure in major urban centres. It also notes that tighter mortgage lending rules introduced on August 1 and continued house-price growth in 2026 suggest affordability pressures remain in place.
Originally published at Eco.pt
