Municipality · Madeira
Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz is part of Madeira — a subtropical Atlantic archipelago of terraced hillsides and laurel forest that has become a magnet for relocation and remote-work buyers.
Last updated · First published
What does property cost in Santa Cruz?
These are the two municipality-level medians INE publishes for Santa Cruz: the transacted (sold) price and the median bank valuation, both per square metre. They are measured differently and are labelled separately, so a valuation is never presented as a sold price.
€2,617/m²
Santa Cruz
€2,564/m²
Santa Cruz
CC BY 4.0Both series are drawn from the public data registry with full provenance. Transacted (sold) figures come from INE’s house-price statistics; the bank-valuation series is INE’s median valuation used by credit institutions. Each carries its own reference period, shown above.
What are the rules and costs in Santa Cruz?
Prices tell you what it costs to buy in Santa Cruz; the rules and costs below tell you what governs a purchase and what it costs to hold.
Two rules shape most purchases here — whether a property can be let short-term, and what it costs to hold each year — followed by the guides and calculator to model your full purchase.
Can you run a short-term rental here?
Short-term letting (Alojamento Local, AL) is regulated at the municipal level in Santa Cruz, as it is across Portugal: the national Alojamento Local regime (Decreto-Lei 128/2014, as amended) sets registration and operating requirements, while each câmara municipal can designate zonas de contenção that suspend or restrict new AL registrations. Restriction status varies by municipality and by parish, and changes over time.
This is general information, not legal advice — confirm the current status for a specific address with the Santa Cruz câmara municipal before assuming a property can be operated as AL.
What about annual property tax (IMI)?
Municipal Property Tax (IMI) is levied annually by the Santa Cruz council within a band set nationally, so the exact rate depends on the municipality and the property’s taxable value (VPT). We do not print a rate we cannot source: any specific figure we publish is drawn from the official register with its reference year, never estimated here.
To model the full acquisition cost — IMT, stamp duty and the recurring IMI — for a specific Santa Cruz purchase, use the cost calculator linked below.
Common questions about Santa Cruz
- How much does property cost per square metre in Santa Cruz?
- In Santa Cruz, the median transacted (sold) price is about €2,617 per square metre (1st Quarter 2026). This is the last-confirmed reading — we could not re-reach the source warehouse this instant. The median bank valuation — what lenders appraised, a separate measure from the transacted price — is about €2,564 per square metre (June 2026). Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal, CC BY 4.0.
Plan your purchase
Every figure on this page is drawn from the public data registry with full provenance — official sources, reference periods and licences. We publish a number only when the warehouse can source it.
Buying in Santa Cruz?
Map the numbers on this page to your specific purchase. Speak with an advisor about costs, timeline and paperwork.
Book a free consultationOther municipalities in Madeira
Other municipalities in the same district — each carries its own INE-sourced price, tax and safety figures.