House prices in Portugal rose by 6.8 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared to the last quarter of 2016, according to new figures released this week.

This confirms forecasts at the end of last month that property figures were set to continue on a growing trend this coming year, with a forecast growth of four percent over the course of 2017.
The price of property in Portugal rose by more than seven percent during the course of last year.
Property experts speaking to newspaper Diário de Noticias in March said the expected increase in the cost of real estate was set to be boosted by foreign buyers, and also by rising buying power among Portuguese. Latest figures also reveal that last year was the fourth consecutive year in which there was an increase in property sales, with the value and number of deals up 18 percent on 2015.
Published on Tuesday this week, Idealista’s figures show that prices rose in all regions except the Alentejo.
“Excluding the Alentejo all the regions saw prices rise”, according to the Idealista website, which showed that the average housing price in Portugal was €1,442 per square metre.
In the first quarter of this year (January – March), compared to the last quarter of 2016 (October – December), the regions that recorded the greatest rises were Lisbon (10.1 percent), Madeira (7 percent) and the Algarve (6.7 percent), followed by the North (5.1 percent) and Centre (2.8 percent).
In contrast to the overall rise in house prices in Portugal, property owners in the Alentejo region were asking 3.2 percent less for houses, according to the website’s price index.
Lisbon remains the most expensive area, with average prices of around €1.959 per square metre, followed by the Algarve (€1,554 per square metre) and by Madeira (€1,173 per square metre).
The cheapest areas are in the North (€1,051 per square metre), the Alentejo (€996 per square metre) and in the Central region (€915 per square metre).