Are you dreaming of owning a house in Portugal but worried about the costs? Well, worry no more! In this guide, we’ll reveal the key strategies to find cheap houses for sale in Portugal. From exploring emerging regions to collaborating with local real estate agents, we’ll show you how to make your dream of owning a property in Portugal a reality. Get ready to discover the top affordable regions, valuable tips, and online resources to find your perfect home. Let’s dive into the world of Portuguese real estate and unlock incredible opportunities!
How to Find Cheap Houses for Sale in Portugal?
Are you dreaming of owning a house in Portugal but worried about the costs? Well, you’re in luck! In this guide, we’ll share some valuable tips and strategies to help you find cheap houses for sale in Portugal. From exploring lesser-known regions to leveraging local resources, we’ll show you how to make your dream of owning a property in Portugal a reality without breaking the bank.
- Explore Emerging Regions: Instead of focusing solely on popular tourist destinations like Lisbon or Porto, consider exploring emerging regions in Portugal. Areas that are still undiscovered by tourists and property investors often offer more affordable housing options. Look for up-and-coming towns and villages that have the potential for growth and development.
- Collaborate with Local Real Estate Agents: Local real estate agents have insider knowledge and access to a wide range of properties, including those with lower price tags. Establish connections with reputable agents who specialize in the region you’re interested in. They can help you uncover hidden gems and negotiate favorable deals on your behalf.
- Attend Property Auctions: Property auctions can be a fantastic opportunity to find cheap houses in Portugal. Keep an eye on auction listings and attend events either in person or online. Auctions often feature distressed properties or those in need of renovation, which can be purchased at significantly lower prices. However, thorough due diligence is crucial to ensure the property’s condition and legal aspects.
- Consider Renovation Projects: If you’re willing to put in some time and effort, consider buying a property that requires renovation. Properties in need of refurbishment tend to be more affordable, and you can customize them according to your preferences. Just ensure you evaluate the renovation costs and factor them into your budget.
- Leverage Online Property Portals: Online property portals, such as idealista.pt or casa.sapo.pt, are valuable resources for finding affordable houses in Portugal. Utilize their search filters to narrow down your options based on price range, location, and property type. Set up email alerts to receive notifications about new listings that match your criteria.
- Network with Local Communities: Tap into local communities and build connections with residents who might have insights into houses for sale. Engage with online forums, expat groups, or social media communities dedicated to Portugal’s real estate. The locals can provide valuable advice, recommendations, or even direct leads to affordable properties.
- Be Open to Rural Areas: Expanding your search to rural areas can often yield more affordable housing options. Rural regions typically offer a quieter lifestyle and picturesque landscapes. Research areas that are within a reasonable distance to amenities and transportation links, ensuring they meet your requirements.
- Consider Off-Season Purchases: Timing can play a role in finding cheaper houses for sale. Consider searching during the off-season or less competitive periods when demand might be lower. Sellers might be more willing to negotiate prices or offer discounts to attract buyers.
Top Affordable Regions in Portugal for Buying a House
- Braga: Located in northern Portugal, Braga is known for its rich history, cultural heritage, and affordable real estate. The city offers a range of reasonably priced properties, including apartments, townhouses, and traditional houses. Braga’s lower cost of living compared to larger cities makes it an attractive choice for buyers seeking affordable housing.
- Guarda: Situated in the mountainous region of Serra da Estrela, Guarda is one of Portugal’s highest cities. It boasts stunning natural landscapes and a tranquil atmosphere. The housing market in Guarda offers affordable options, including cozy cottages and spacious apartments with beautiful mountain views. If you prefer a quieter lifestyle and enjoy outdoor activities, Guarda is worth considering.
- Leiria: Located in central Portugal, Leiria is a historic city with a vibrant cultural scene and affordable real estate. The region offers a variety of housing options, from townhouses in the city center to suburban family homes. Leiria’s proximity to beautiful beaches and natural parks adds to its appeal for buyers seeking an affordable and well-rounded lifestyle.
- Setúbal: Situated just south of Lisbon, Setúbal is a coastal region known for its stunning landscapes, traditional fishing villages, and affordable housing. The real estate market in Setúbal offers a range of options, including apartments, villas, and townhouses at relatively affordable prices. With its proximity to beautiful beaches and easy access to Lisbon, Setúbal provides an excellent balance of affordability and convenience.
- Viseu: Located in the central part of Portugal, Viseu is a charming and affordable region for buying a house. The city is known for its historical architecture, picturesque streets, and friendly atmosphere. The housing market in Viseu offers a mix of apartments, townhouses, and traditional houses at affordable prices. If you value a slower pace of life and a close-knit community, Viseu may be the perfect fit.
- Portalegre: Nestled in the Alentejo region, Portalegre offers affordable housing options amidst its scenic beauty and cultural heritage. The region features a range of properties, from renovated townhouses in the historic city center to countryside cottages surrounded by vineyards. Portalegre’s affordability, coupled with its authentic charm, attracts buyers looking for a peaceful and affordable retreat.
- Castelo Branco: Located in central Portugal, Castelo Branco is known for its medieval castle, traditional architecture, and affordable real estate. The region offers a variety of properties, including townhouses, apartments, and rural houses, at lower price points compared to more urbanized areas. Castelo Branco’s affordable housing market appeals to those seeking a tranquil and affordable lifestyle.
- Beja: Situated in the Alentejo region, Beja offers affordable housing options in a relaxed and traditional setting. The region features a mix of properties, including historic townhouses, country cottages, and modern apartments, at affordable prices. Beja’s affordable real estate market, coupled with its authentic Portuguese culture and picturesque countryside, attracts buyers seeking a more affordable way of life.
Be aware that if you want to buy cheap houses and make great deals, it is important to avoid big centers like Lisbon and Porto. Portugal is a country with extensive options when it comes to real estate, each region has its different characteristics.
According to our research, the prices per square meter of the cheapest regions in Portugal with investment/return potential are listed in the table below.
| Region | Average Price Per Square Meter | Research |
| Braga | 703€ | Link |
| Guarda | 380.75€ | Link |
| Leiria | 510.25€ | Link |
| Setúbal | 584.2€ | Link |
| Viseu | 1,229.2€ | Link |
| Portalegre | 727.25€ | Link |
| Castelo Branco | 610.42 | Link |
| Beja | 956€ | Link |
Types of Houses You Can Find in Portugal
- Townhouses (Moradias): Townhouses, or “moradias” in Portuguese, are popular housing options in urban and suburban areas. These houses are typically attached to neighboring properties and often feature multiple floors. Townhouses can vary in size and style, from traditional and colorful townhouses in historic city centers to more contemporary designs in newer developments. They often come with outdoor spaces such as gardens or terraces.
Price Range: 3/5
- Villas (Moradias Isoladas): Villas, or “moradias isoladas,” are standalone houses that offer more privacy and space. These spacious properties can be found in both urban and rural areas and often come with gardens, swimming pools, and outdoor entertaining areas. Villas in Portugal can range from traditional and rustic styles, such as Portuguese farmhouse villas, to modern and luxurious designs.
Price Range: 4/5
- Apartments (Apartamentos): Apartments, or “apartamentos,” are prevalent in urban areas and offer a more compact and convenient living option. Portugal has a variety of apartment types, including studio apartments, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and larger units. Apartments can be found in high-rise buildings, condominium complexes, or converted historic buildings. They often provide amenities such as communal gardens, parking spaces, and sometimes even swimming pools or gyms.
Price Range: 3/5
- Farmhouses (Quintas): Portugal’s rural areas are dotted with charming farmhouses, or “quintas.” These properties are typically located in the countryside and offer a more traditional and rustic living experience. Quintas often feature spacious land, including orchards, vineyards, or agricultural fields. They can range from simple cottages to larger farm estates, providing a peaceful retreat for those seeking a connection with nature.
Incredibly, the price of farmhouses in Portugal is very affordable. In our research we found farmhouses priced from €47,000, which is very affordable compared to other countries in Europe.
Price Range: 2/5
- Duplexes (Duplex): Duplexes are two-level apartments or houses that offer more space and separation between living areas. These properties are particularly popular in urban areas, where space can be limited. Duplexes can be found in various architectural styles and offer the advantage of distinct areas for living, dining, and bedrooms. They are an excellent option for those looking for a combination of privacy and ample living space.
Price Range: 4/5
- Historic Homes (Casas Antigas): Portugal’s rich history is reflected in its historic homes, or “casas antigas.” These properties often have traditional Portuguese architecture, including tiled facades, ornate details, and interior courtyards. Historic homes can be found in city centers, historic districts, or rural areas, providing a unique blend of charm and cultural heritage.
Attention in old houses, their purchase prices are low and it is possible to buy a good property for below market prices, but you will also have remodeling expenses to restore the house again. Take this amount into consideration, as it is also part of the total amount invested in the residence.
Price Range: 2/5
- Contemporary and Modern Homes (Casas Modernas): Portugal also offers a wide range of contemporary and modern homes for those seeking sleek designs and cutting-edge architecture. These houses can feature minimalist aesthetics, large windows for natural light, open floor plans, and innovative building materials. Modern homes can be found in urban areas and newly developed residential complexes, showcasing Portugal’s commitment to modern design.
Price Range: 5/5
Costs When Buy a House in Portugal
We have created an article entirely dedicated to this subject. You can click here to read this article in its entirety, where we show in detail all the estimated costs, with real values, that you would have when buying a house in Portugal. Basically the costs of buying a property are related to Registration fees, Notary fees, Stamp duty and Real estare prices. Of course, to these values one must add the price of the house.
| Type of cost | Price |
| Registration fees | 1% to 2% of the purchase price |
| Notary fees | €250 to €500 |
| Stamp duty | 0.8% to 6% of the purchase price |
| Real estate prices | Varies depending on the location |
Is It Possible to Buy a House in Portugal to Get Citizenship?
The golden season Portugal has been one of the most attractive immigration programs in the world for quite a while and unfortunately, they announced it a while ago that they’re going to be closing that program, but there’s been some confusion around, when is it closing and what’s going on, and obviously some service providers who just want to make money quickly. They say “oh, rush quick get in”, and the number of applications soared on the basis of that not surprisingly, much like they have in Greece with respect to the price increases.
Today we’re going to give you the up-to-date information, one of the things that I have noticed over the last months, since they’ve first made the announcement that they would be closing the program, was if you’re going to do it, be aware that there is some risk that you may not get in, and so, not saying ‘don’t try it’, but be aware there’s a consequence there.
I have some more definitive information for you, there’s been some updates from the government itself and some updates in terms of kind of the legal consequences, which are helpful, but on top of that we are in a situation, where we are able to update you about what that means in terms of what you should do.
The TLDR is you can still apply for the Portuguese golden Visa, it’s still an excellent program and you should provide you get your application in in time to be able to qualify. This being said, I’m going to explain a little bit about the things that I learned in some researches about the topic.
Not going to be taking any more, applications is there, some concern that, people who were already in would maybe get denied or people who filed an application after they’ve made this statement would be denied even though, it hadn’t been formalized. The statement essentially was: You’re gonna have a big legal problem on your hands if you do that, it’s illegal to retroactively do something you can’t do that. It has to be after the law has actually been approved. The government seems to have come around to that idea, the thought is somewhere around the end of June, so the general statement is: If you get your application in before around the end of June, you should be fine.
So hence, if you’re interested by all means, the thing that I want you to understand about it is that there is some non-zero chance that it could happen sooner and you may not get it in time as well as the process of doing a golden Visa in Portugal. You have to purchase an investment of some sort, you need to get the documents issued for that investment, you have to get a NIF, you have to open a bank account, you have to go through the IML, you have to get yourself a criminal record check, you have to get the criminal record checkup sealed, if you don’t have record sealed in your country that’s a problem, then you have to get it legalized etc. There’s like a bunch of things that can happen and that can go wrong and it can take you some time. You have to make the investment not knowing if you’re going to get that application in time, okay? Really important concept as far as I’m concerned, because I don’t want to just waste my money on some random investment. What does this mean? if I was doing it personally and I do think that there is some consideration of what difference it makes for you.
Essentially you have three options, the first option is you can get into some sort of a fund
1. Get Into a Fund
The funds are some of them decent, some are bad, you’re maybe going to look at like a 5% per year return, so it’s not a great investment and what you need to realize is if you put your money into the fund your money is going to be locked up in that fund for the next call it seven years. Because it’s going to be locked up for that seven, if you apply today, you make the investment, you apply and it turns out that for some reason you can’t get your application in on time and by the way, it’s not a known cut off about the end of June cut off, it’s kind of like an estimate. In theory could drag on longer, so it’s not necessarily that you’ll get cut off, but I think that it’s somewhat reasonable that given the time that we have that you should be able to get an application in, but it’s not necessarily guaranteed.
2. You Can Do The 280.000 Euros Option
Your second option is to do the 280 000 euros option. Now 280 000 is a lot less than 500 000, and as a result you could say “well maybe I would rather do that, I’m tying up less money, I have less opportunity cost”. I kind of advocated for this over the last little while, since they raised the amount that you needed for the actual fund investment, when the fund investment was 350.000 I thought it was kind of marginal, but now that it is not that, you could do one of these Investments for 280.000 euros.
Advice for you: Now these Investments are all overpriced. Every single one.
There is no way that you’re getting fair value on that 280.000 investment. So you have to realize that your return is going to be possibly negative, certainly not unlikely that you’re actually going to get a reasonable rate of return on that, I would say quite possibly negative. Some people would love to go and sell it to you, because they get good commissions. It’s probably negative.
It is okay because the opportunity cost on the money over, we’re talking about six or seven years, might be far greater than the amount of money that it’s going to cost you in terms of the negative return on the invest. By the way you may get all your money back, I’m not saying that it will necessarily be negative, but I want you to know going in there is that risk, these are not high-quality Investments, okay? But you only have to tie up 280.000 euros liquid.
If you get in a situation, where for some reason your application doesn’t go through on time, something happens, then you could end up, where suddenly you have this money that’s illiquid for seven years, and you didn’t get what you got in there for anyway. So you have to be prepared to take on that risk
3. Purchase a Real Estate
The third thing that you can do is you can purchase real estate and here in Portugal you can buy in Portom you can buy in Lisbon, you can buy in Algarve, you can buy in most of the areas, so you have to figure out where to buy, now my recommendation would be to buy in Madeira and this speaks to something which I will circle around to in just a second. So, Madeira for those of you don’t know, kind of like the Hawaii of Europe, it’s quite a nice Island. I think there’s some reasons to believe that real estate could do fairly well there comparatively to some other regions, and you could buy property.
What’s the advantage of buying a property in Madeira?
Well, first of all you’re having a liquid investment, so you know you’re paying fair market rate for it and you’re in a situation where if it turns out that your application doesn’t go through you can sell the asset, you can take the money out and you can put it somewhere else. It might do okay as an investment in general, not a bad idea.
The delay on Golden Visas
The other thing about it is the delays on Golden Visas are really long, like a year to two years to get the actual Visa approved. That’s a fairly long period of time, it’s not quick and because of this you just have to be prepared to wait, and your Golden Visa once it comes through that’s great, but it’s going to push back the timeline on say getting citizenship.
Is The Visa Process Quicker?
I want to warn you guys just not to have false expectations, now here’s where Madera comes in good, so you can approve visas much quicker in Madeira. So, if you do an investment in Madera, you can use the application through the Madeira office, and find that gets approved quicker than doing it in one of these other places, it’s less backed up. Now there are some things you can do to try and speed up the process in general, and so we may be able to get it expedited a bit, that doesn’t mean it’s fast but maybe able to get it expedited a bit quicker in Madeira. So, I think that’s an advantage of if you were to go and try and buy property in Madeira, not saying that you necessarily should, it’s obviously a personal decision for you, it depends on your situation, but that would be the deal now.
That could speed things up, I’m not going to hold my breath, but it’s possible and if that’s the case then, maybe you will get to the point where you’re five years in and you’ll get a citizenship approved quickly, but right now there’s a huge backlog of people and so you should be aware of that going in that realistically this is probably like an eight-year process before you have citizenship.
How long does it take to get approved to the Golden Visas?
You can qualify for citizenship after five years of residency, great. But it will probably take about two years at this stage to get approved. This may change because SEF, the organization which is responsible for these things, is getting like closed down and they’re doing a new reboot with some different organizations to some extent, it’s the same people, it’s the same systems, they’re kind of dividing out. There’s going to be two organizations.
Portugal has gained popularity among international buyers not only for its beautiful landscapes and vibrant culture but also for its favorable citizenship programs. The country offers a pathway to citizenship through its Golden Visa program, which allows foreigners to obtain residency and, eventually, citizenship by investing in Portuguese real estate. In this article, we’ll explore whether it is possible to buy a house in Portugal to acquire citizenship and the requirements associated with this process.
- Property Requirements: The property purchased must meet certain criteria to qualify for the Golden Visa program. It should be a freehold property with a minimum age of 30 years or located in an urban regeneration area. Additionally, the property must be unencumbered and have all property taxes and other obligations up to date.
- Residency Requirements: Once the property is acquired and the Golden Visa is granted, there are residency requirements that must be fulfilled. The applicant is required to spend a minimum amount of time in Portugal per year to maintain residency status. This requirement is typically set at an average of 7 days per year for the first five years. After five years, the applicant becomes eligible to apply for Portuguese citizenship.
- Citizenship Application: After fulfilling the residency requirements, the applicant can apply for Portuguese citizenship. The citizenship application process involves meeting additional criteria, such as demonstrating sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and passing a citizenship examination. The application is then reviewed by the relevant authorities, and if approved, the applicant can obtain Portuguese citizenship.
- Benefits of Portuguese Citizenship: Acquiring Portuguese citizenship offers numerous benefits, including the right to live, work, and study in Portugal and other EU countries. It also grants access to various social welfare programs, healthcare, and educational opportunities. Additionally, Portuguese citizens can travel visa-free to numerous countries worldwide.
How To Buy a House in Portugal?
We have made an article entirely dedicated to teaching you how the process of buying a house in Portugal works. We have a collection of articles focused on this subject, to learn more, we leave the links below where you will have all this information at hand.
Most Expensive and Cheapest Places to Buy a House in Portugal in 2023
How to Buy a House in Portugal: Complete Guide
The basic step-by-step process to buy a house in Portugal in 2023
Most affordable cities to buy a house in Portugal in 2023
How to Buy a house in Portugal from UK
If you are from UK, we wrote a special article for you. In it we give you special tips if you want to buy a house in Europe, including Portugal, where it is very cheap for you. Check this out below.
