Portugal: Thousands of people demonstrated against rising housing costs

Thousands of people demonstrated this afternoon in Lisbon and several other major Portuguese cities for the right to housing, against rising property rental prices, calling in particular for state rent control and more social housing.

“Housing: A right for all”, “right or privilege” one could read on banners held by demonstrators in this mobilization.

“I live in fear that at any moment my landlord will ask me to raise my rent,” Ana Reis da Silva, a 32-year-old lawyer who has lived in Lisbon for the past ten years, told AFP.

Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe. According to government data, more than 50% of workers had a monthly income of less than 1,000 euros last year. The monthly minimum wage amounts to 760 euros.

“Rental prices must remain affordable,” said Martino Faias Pereira, a 72-year-old pensioner who lives in social housing in the Portuguese capital. He expressed his concern about the steep rise in housing rental prices in recent years.

Demonstrators called for “the right to housing for all, a right enshrined in the Constitution” as families face rising prices, according to the door-to-door movement which called for this day of action along with other associations.

According to Eurostat, the cost of buying a home in Portugal has jumped by more than 75% between 2010 and 2022, while rental prices have increased by around 25%.

Rent prices in Lisbon, a tourist hotspot, have soared 65% since 2015 and property sales prices have soared 137% over the same period, according to data from Confidencial Imobiliario. Rents rose 37% last year alone, more than in Barcelona or Paris, according to another real estate data aggregator, Casafari.

The situation is particularly difficult for young people. The average rent price for a one-bedroom apartment in Lisbon is around 1,350 euros, according to a study by Imovirtual.