According to data announced by Confidencial Imobiliário, this was the fourth consecutive quarter rents in Lisbon registered a drop, dropping 4.8% compared to the previous quarter and 16.8% compared to the previous year, which led prices to reach levels which had been last registered in mid-2017.
Ci recalls rents in Lisbon have decelerated since the end of 2018, dropping for the first time during the third quarter of 2019. The first yoy drop took place during the third quarter of 2020, with the pandemic intensifying price drops since.
Ricardo Guimarães, director at Confidencial Imobiliário, commented in a press release that «one of the factors that is determining this contracted rent drop. He explained that «between the beginning and the end of the year, the number of dwellings for rent in Lisbon increased 40%, reflecting mainly migration from Local Accommodation».
Another reason for this drop in rents, according to the expert, «is the change that is taking place in terms of demand’s financial profile. In a situation where the driving force behind tourism and short-term rents is suspended due to the pandemic, demand tends to increase through the Portuguese people, and rents end up having to adjust to the families’ incomes, thus leading to lower rents».
In terms of the whole Portuguese market, housing contracted rents registered a trend to stabilise during the last quarter of 2020, with a -0.6% quarterly variation and -0.7% yoy variation.