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Algarve

Golden limestone cliffs fold around turquoise coves, whitewashed fishing towns like Lagos and Tavira sit between marinas and orange groves, and manicured golf estates spread inland from the sea. This is Portugal’s sun-belt coast — and its most international property market.

Last updated · First published

What does property cost in Algarve?

The figures below are the latest official medians for the region, each shown beside its reference period and INE source. Transacted (sold) prices are drawn from INE’s house-price statistics; the national median is shown alongside so you can see how the region compares.

Median sold price · AlgarveSold · INE

€3,240/m²

Algarve

1st Quarter 2026Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal
CC BY 4.0
Median sold price · FaroSold · INE (city)

€3,125/m²

Faro

1st Quarter 2026Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal
CC BY 4.0

Faro (concelho) alone — the district capital transacts below the wider Algarve median, which is pulled up by the coastal resort concelhos such as Loulé, Lagos and Albufeira.

Median sold price · PortugalSold · INE (national)

€2,168/m²

Portugal

1st Quarter 2026Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal
CC BY 4.0
Median new-lease rent · AlgarveRent · INE

€11.56/m²

Algarve

2nd Quarter 2026Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal
CC BY 4.0

Region-level only — INE does not publish a concelho-level rent series, so there is no separate Faro rent figure.

How Algarve sold prices have moved

Median sold price · Algarve, last 12 months (line, left axis) against dwellings sold in the last 12 months (bars, right axis).

Q4 2019 → Q1 2026Latest data: Q1 2026

Median sold price · Algarve: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal · indicator 0012234 (dim3=H1) · retrieved 2026-08-12 · CC BY 4.0

Sold in last 12 months: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal · indicator 0014363 · retrieved 2026-10-02 · CC BY 4.0

Show the data as a table (26 quarters)
Every quarter in the chart (Q4 2019 – Q1 2026).
QuarterMedian sold price · Algarve (last 12 months, €/m²)Sold in last 12 months (dwellings)
Q1 20263,24011,910
Q4 20253,13912,245
Q3 20253,02112,244
Q2 20252,92212,025
Q1 20252,81411,651
Q4 20242,75210,908
Q3 20242,70110,201
Q2 20242,67710,073
Q1 20242,63210,192
Q4 20232,61310,985
Q3 20232,56411,551
Q2 20232,49612,383
Q1 20232,42913,440
Q4 20222,33914,308
Q3 20222,26415,276
Q2 20222,19915,512
Q1 20222,09514,872
Q4 20212,00013,638
Q3 20211,92212,658
Q2 20211,85711,711
Q1 20211,83610,270
Q4 20201,81610,835
Q3 20201,77211,469
Q2 20201,74011,947
Q1 20201,72113,443
Q4 20191,69613,562

Asking vs sold

Asking-price data pending — we publish an asking figure only from a licensed source, never scraped listings, and we always label it separately from the sold (INE) median so the two are never conflated.

What does each type of property cost in Algarve?

Two official medians, kept deliberately apart. Bank appraisals are what lenders valued homes at; registered sales are what buyers actually paid. They are measured differently, published on different cadences, and are never averaged together.

Flats vs villas

Bank appraisal · INE · €/m²

Median value of bank evaluations on housing — what lenders valued property at for mortgage purposes. It is a valuation opinion, not a transacted price, so it is never mixed with the sale medians below.

Median flats vs villas price per square metre in Algarve
FlatsMedian€3,010€/m²PeriodAugust 2026
VillasMedian€2,770€/m²PeriodAugust 2026
All housingMedian€2,934€/m²PeriodAugust 2026

Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal — CC BY 4.0. Each row carries its own reference period, shown above.

New vs existing homes

Sold · INE · €/m²

Median value of registered dwelling sales — what buyers actually transacted at, split by whether the home was newly built or already existing. This is the sold family; it is never mixed with appraisals.

Median new vs existing homes price per square metre in Algarve
New dwellingsMedian€3,573€/m²Period1st Quarter 2026
Existing dwellingsMedian€3,158€/m²Period1st Quarter 2026
All dwellingsMedian€3,240€/m²Period1st Quarter 2026

Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal — CC BY 4.0. Each row carries its own reference period, shown above.

Prices are one part of the picture. Below, see how Algarve sits through the market cycle — bank appraisals against sold prices, transaction activity and rents, each drawn live from INE with its source and reference period.

Where exactly in Algarve?

Those trends describe Algarve as a whole. Below, place it on the map to see exactly where they apply — and, where the data allows, how prices vary from one part of the region to the next.

Algarve on the map

The 16 municipalities that make up the Faro distrito. Select a municipality to open its concelho guide.

AlbufeiraAlcoutimAljezurCastro MarimFaroLagoaLagosLouléMonchiqueOlhãoPortimãoSão Brás de AlportelSilvesTaviraVila do BispoVila Real de Santo António
  1. 1. Albufeira
  2. 2. Alcoutim
  3. 3. Aljezur
  4. 4. Castro Marim
  5. 5. Faro
  6. 6. Lagoa
  7. 7. Lagos
  8. 8. Loulé
  9. 9. Monchique
  10. 10. Olhão
  11. 11. Portimão
  12. 12. São Brás de Alportel
  13. 13. Silves
  14. 14. Tavira
  15. 15. Vila do Bispo
  16. 16. Vila Real de Santo António

Boundaries: Direção-Geral do Território — Carta Administrativa Oficial de Portugal (CAOP2025) — source — CC BY 4.0 (DGT)

What is living in Algarve like?

Knowing where a property sits is only half the decision — the other half is what daily life there is like. Here are the liveability signals we can source for Algarve today, each added as the data becomes available.

HealthcareINE · health access & supply

9.0doctors/1k inhab.

Medical doctors per 1,000 inhabitants · S7A2025

Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), PortugalCC BY 4.0

0.2pharmacies/1k inhab.

Pharmacies per 1,000 inhabitants · S7A2025

Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), PortugalCC BY 4.0

2hospitals

Hospitals · S7A2024

Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), PortugalCC BY 4.0

ConnectivityINE · fixed broadband

35,231accesses

Fixed broadband Internet accesses · S7A2025

Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), PortugalCC BY 4.0

SafetyINE · reported crime

50.8

crimes/1k residents

Registered crimes per 1,000 residents · 2025 crime counts over 2021 resident population

Derived: registered_crimes / population_2021 * 1000

Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), PortugalCC BY 4.0

CoastINE · Blue Flag beaches

86beaches

Blue Flag beaches (regional total) · S7A2026

Regional total (NUTS3) — shared across the surrounding region, not this municipality alone. NUTS regional total broadcast to member concelhos — the WHOLE region's count, NOT this concelho's own; never sum across concelhos.

Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), PortugalCC BY 4.0

ClimateIPMA · monthly temperature

13°C–31°C

Observed range · August 2025 – October 2026

Coolest: mean daily low, November 2025 · Warmest: mean daily high, July 2026

Not a full-year normal — our IPMA observations cover August 2025 – October 2026, so the coldest winter months are not represented.

IPMA — Instituto Português do Mar e da AtmosferaFree reuse with attribution to IPMA (open-data)

Explore the full climate strip →

Algarve at a glance

The Algarve spans Portugal’s southern coast, from the Spanish border at Vila Real de Santo António west to the cliffs of Sagres, with Faro as its administrative capital and airport gateway. It is the country’s most international housing market: demand is driven far more by non-resident holiday-home and relocation buyers than by the local economy, and it concentrates heavily along the coastal strip.

The regional median masks a wide internal spread — the central-coast resort concelhos trade well above the interior and the eastern sotavento. This page shows the official median for the region as a whole alongside the Faro concelho figure, each with its own provenance; concelho-level pages are planned so the full intra-region gap can be shown with the same discipline.

What are the rules and costs in Algarve?

Lifestyle is the human side of the decision; the rules and costs are the practical one. These are the two rules that shape most purchases in Algarve — plus the guides and calculator to model your all-in costs.

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) matters more in the Algarve than anywhere else in Portugal: for many foreign buyers the rental economics are central to the purchase decision. AL is regulated at the municipal level under the national regime (Decreto-Lei 128/2014, as amended), and several Algarve concelhos operate áreas de contenção that restrict or suspend new AL registrations in parts of their territory. Registration status and local rules vary by concelho and change over time.

This is general information, not legal advice — confirm the current AL status and any contention-zone limits for a specific address with the relevant câmara municipal before assuming a property can be operated as a short-term rental.

What about annual property tax (IMI)?

Municipal Property Tax (IMI) is levied annually by each concelho within a band set nationally, so the exact rate depends on the municipality and the property’s taxable value (VPT) — the rate in Faro can differ from that of the neighbouring resort concelhos. Any specific rate we publish is sourced from the official register with its reference year; where the warehouse cannot yet source a rate it is shown as pending rather than estimated.

Common questions about Algarve

How much does property cost per square metre in Algarve?
In Algarve, the median transacted (sold) price is about €3,240 per square metre (1st Quarter 2026). For comparison, the national median sold price is about €2,168 per square metre (1st Quarter 2026). Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal, CC BY 4.0.
How much do flats and villas cost per square metre in Algarve?
In Algarve, the median bank appraisal value is about €3,010 per square metre for flats and €2,770 per square metre for villas (August 2026). These are lender valuations for mortgage purposes, not transacted prices. Registered sales — what buyers actually paid — ran about €3,573 per square metre for newly built homes and €3,158 per square metre for existing homes (1st Quarter 2026). Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal, CC BY 4.0.
What is the average rent per square metre in Algarve?
In Algarve, the median new-lease rent — what tenants pay to let, a separate measure from any sale or asking price — is about €11.56 per square metre (2nd Quarter 2026). Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal, CC BY 4.0.
What is the climate like in Algarve?
Over the August 2025 – October 2026 climate observations available for Algarve's anchor municipality, the mean daily low reached about 12.8°C (in November 2025) and the mean daily high about 30.7°C (in July 2026). This is the observed range for that window, not a full-year normal: our IPMA observations do not span a full calendar year, so the coldest winter months are not represented. Source: IPMA — Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, Free reuse with attribution to IPMA (open-data).
What is the reported-crime rate in Algarve?
Algarve's anchor municipality records about 50.8 crimes/1k residents (Registered crimes per 1,000 residents, reference period 2025 crime counts over 2021 resident population). Derived as registered_crimes / population_2021 * 1000. Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal, CC BY 4.0.
What healthcare access does Algarve have?
Algarve's anchor municipality reports medical doctors per 1,000 inhabitants: 9.0 doctors/1k inhab., reference period S7A2025; pharmacies per 1,000 inhabitants: 0.2 pharmacies/1k inhab., reference period S7A2025; hospitals: 2 hospitals, reference period S7A2024. Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal.
What is internet connectivity like in Algarve?
Algarve's anchor municipality reports fixed broadband internet accesses: 35,231 accesses, reference period S7A2025. Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal.
How many Blue Flag beaches does Algarve have?
Algarve's anchor municipality reports blue flag beaches (regional total): 86 beaches (regional total, shared across the surrounding region), reference period S7A2026. Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal.

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Municipalities in Algarve

Every municipality below has its own page, held to the same provenance discipline: a figure appears only when the warehouse can source it, shown with its INE source and reference period. Where it cannot, the page says so in place of the figure. Never an estimate.

We publish a number only when the warehouse can source it. Many of the series shown here, including the sold-price median, are listed in the public data registry with their official sources, reference periods and licences. The dwellings-sold bars in the price chart print their source, INE indicator code and licence under the chart.

Buying in Algarve?

Map the numbers on this page to your specific purchase. Speak with an advisor about costs, timeline and paperwork.

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