Lisbon premium property rents highest out of 30 cities

The cost of renting a property in Lisbon are among the highest in the world and the highest from a basket of 30 cities according to a study by the real estate consultants Savills.

Between January and June this year, rents in premium properties rose 13.9% and in like-for-like terms on 2022 that increase was 32.7%. The Residential Market World Index showed that the cost off renting houses in the first half of the year had overtaken Singapore (13.6%) and Berlin (9.2%).
The cost is more than double that of Dubai where prices increased 5.4% between January and June, or Kuala Lumpur with an increase of 4.3%.
The study from Savills points out that the rental markets in Lisbon and Singapore have seen “significant levels of growth in prices over the past 18 months with rents over 40% because there was “more demand from international tenants which has driven up the prices of premium residences”.
But according to the Financial Times the reason for the sharp increase in premium rents in Lisbon was the result of “impending rent controls which has led some landlords to increase rents before the fact to compensate”.
At issue is the limit of 2% for updating rental values which does not reflect the true value of inflation and has been in force since January this year.
For new rental contracts, the 2% cap will come into force with the ‘More Housing’ law which was vetoed on Monday by the Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, but which the PS ruling government will try and force through parliament anyway.
Increases in rents in other cities were more modest and included Amsterdam (+3.3%), Barcelona (3%) and Milan and Madrid (2.9%). London and Rome were up 1.9% and Athens 1.8%. Rents in Paris went up by a modest 0.2%.

Image: Unsplash, André Lergier-Lerqct