Renting a one-bedroom flat in Portugal costs over €200 more than the minimum wage

Renting a one-bedroom flat costs a median 1,128 euros a month, 123% more than a room at 505 euros, according to property portal Idealista, with the highest prices in Lisbon, Faro and Madeira. After a downward trend in the first half of 2026, rents in Portugal rose again in August and anyone looking for a one-bedroom flat (T1) now has to pay out more than 200 euros above the minimum wage. According to a recent report by the idealista portal on the second quarter of 2026, renting a T1 one-bedroom flat has a median cost of 1,128 euros per month, 123% more than renting a room, which comes to 505 euros a month. At district level, Lisbon is the most expensive. A self-contained one-bedroom flat in the capital region has a median price of 1,354 euros per month. It is followed by the island of Madeira (1,295 euros/month), Faro (1,171 euros/month), Porto (983 euros/month), Setúbal (981 euros/month) and São Miguel island in the Azores (979 euros/month). At the other end of the scale, the cheapest T1 flats are in the districts of Guarda (456 euros/month), Castelo Branco (527 euros/month) and Bragança (529 euros/month). Looking at the district capitals, tenants have to stretch their budgets even further. A T1 in the city of Lisbon has a median price of 1,409 euros/month, a pattern repeated in other cities: Funchal (1,340 euros/month), Porto (1,003 euros/month) and Faro (1,001 euros/month). Guarda (438 euros/month), Beja (790 euros/month), Bragança (520 euros/month) and Castelo Branco (538 euros/month) are the district capitals where renting a T1 is most affordable. As for rooms, Madeira (565 euros/month) is even more expensive than the Lisbon district (551 euros/month), with Porto (457 euros/month) closing the top 3. At the opposite end of the table are Bragança (205 euros/month), Guarda (205 euros/month) and Castelo Branco (246 euros/month). In the ranking of room prices by city, Lisbon and Funchal are level pegging (570 euros per month). The cheapest options are in Guarda (200 euros/month), Beja (270 euros/month) and Viseu (271 euros/month). Studios far more expensive than rooms The idealista survey also shows that studios have a median price of 908 euros per month, in other words 80% more than a room, while still being 20% cheaper than a T1. Bragança is where the gap between renting a room and a studio is greatest, both at district level (131%) and in the city itself (128%). In this report on the long-term rental market, the median asking prices for rooms in shared flats, studios and T1 flats advertised on the idealista portal between April and June 2026 were compared, with only markets that had a sufficiently representative sample being analysed.