Lisbon areas and surroundings: where to buy and what homes cost

Updated: 3 November 2026 · RE/MAX Extra

A ‘flat in Lisbon’ can mean many things: a building in the old centre, a new-build by the river in Parque das Nações or a villa in Cascais. Here is how the territory is organised, what homes cost in each part according to official INE statistics for the 12 months to June 2026, and how many properties are in our catalogue right now.

City, metropolitan area and district are not the same thing

The city of Lisbon is the municipality (concelho) of Lisbon. Under a 2012 law it is divided into 24 civil parishes, or freguesias. According to the final results of the 2021 census, 545,796 people live there.

The Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Área Metropolitana de Lisboa, AML) is made up of 18 municipalities with, according to the same census, 2,870,208 residents. It has two parts: Greater Lisbon (Grande Lisboa) on the north bank of the Tagus and the Setúbal Peninsula (Península de Setúbal) on the south bank.

The most populated municipalities in the metropolitan area are Lisbon, Sintra (385,606 residents) and Cascais (214,124). The smallest are Alcochete (19,143), Sesimbra (52,384) and Montijo (55,682).

There is also the district (distrito) of Lisbon, an administrative division at another level. It includes municipalities outside the metropolitan area, such as Torres Vedras and Alenquer, while the south bank belongs to the district of Setúbal. Listings usually give the address as a chain of ‘freguesia, municipality, district’, for example ‘Carcavelos e Parede, Cascais, Lisboa’.

Sale prices by municipality

Portugal’s national statistics institute (INE) publishes the median price per square metre every quarter, based on actual home sales rather than listings. Below are the medians for the 12 months to June 2026: €2,264/m² nationally (+17.7% over the year), €3,757/m² in Greater Lisbon (+18.7%) and €2,890/m² on the Setúbal Peninsula (+25.4%). Our articles on Porto, Cascais and the coast and the Algarve use the same period, so the figures can be compared directly.

The range in the tables runs from the lower to the upper quartile: a quarter of sales were cheaper than the first figure and a quarter more expensive than the second. ‘Over the year’ compares with the median for the 12 months to June 2025, calculated from INE’s tables.

North bank: Greater Lisbon

South bank: Setúbal Peninsula

The most expensive in the metropolitan area are Lisbon, Cascais and Oeiras; according to INE data for Q2 2026, they are also the three most expensive municipalities in the country among those with more than 100,000 residents. The most affordable are Palmela (€2,522/m²) and Moita (€2,538/m²). Medians rose most over the year in Barreiro (+34.8%), Moita (+32.0%) and Vila Franca de Xira (+29.2%), and least in Cascais (+14.6%) and Lisbon (+14.7%).

For Q2 2026 alone, the median was €4,030/m² in Greater Lisbon, €3,069/m² on the Setúbal Peninsula and €5,299/m² in the city of Lisbon. There were 11,050 sales in the metropolitan area in the quarter, 7.3% fewer than a year earlier, yet prices kept rising.

Residents and non-residents, new and resale homes

For municipalities with 100,000 or more residents, INE publishes more detailed figures, also for the 12 months to June 2026. There are eleven such municipalities in the metropolitan area. A dash means INE does not give a value.

This is the difference between the medians of all sales to each group, not a mark-up on the same property: non-residents may be buying different flats. For Greater Lisbon as a whole, in Q2 2026 buyers with a tax residence abroad paid a median of €5,878/m² against €4,000/m² for residents, 47.0% more; in the Porto metropolitan area, according to the same INE release, the gap is 37.5%. On the Setúbal Peninsula the figures were €3,240/m² against €3,063/m².

In Lisbon itself, the median price per square metre is €5,956/m² for studios and T1 flats, €5,222/m² for T2, €4,891/m² for T3 and €4,655/m² for T4 and larger. For Cascais and Oeiras in detail, including a breakdown by number of bedrooms, see Cascais, Oeiras and the coast.

Example: an 80 m² flat at the median price

The median is the midpoint of all sales in the period, and it covers both old flats in need of work and new-builds. A specific property can cost a good deal more or less: the price depends on the freguesia, year of construction, floor, view, parking and condition. Purchase taxes come on top; see our article ‘Property taxes in Portugal’.

The 24 parishes of Lisbon itself

The city’s current map was set by Law No. 56/2012 on the reorganisation of Lisbon, which replaced the previous 53 freguesias with 24. Thirteen of the new parishes were formed by merging old ones. Santa Maria Maior, for example, combined twelve freguesias of the historic centre (Mártires, Sacramento, São Nicolau, Madalena, Santa Justa, Sé, Santiago, São Cristóvão e São Lourenço, Castelo, Socorro, São Miguel and Santo Estêvão), and Belém is the former São Francisco Xavier and Santa Maria de Belém. Parque das Nações was created from scratch. Ten freguesias kept their names but got new boundaries. In 2015, Law No. 85/2015 adjusted the boundaries of several parishes.

In documents drawn up before the reform, a property may still be recorded under its former freguesia. To check an address and its boundaries, go by the current names, which are also the ones used in listings.

INE publishes 12-month medians of sale prices for Lisbon’s freguesias; for the city as a whole the figure is €5,192/m² (+14.7% over the year). Alongside them are asking prices from our catalogue as of 3 November 2026: how many flats are for sale in each parish and the median asking price (rounded to €500).

By sale prices, the most expensive parishes are Santo António, Parque das Nações and Avenidas Novas (€7,254/m², €6,269/m² and €6,144/m²), and the cheapest are Santa Clara, Olivais and Penha de França (€3,850/m², €4,399/m² and €4,659/m²). Over the year, medians rose most in Avenidas Novas (+23.8%), Belém (+22.9%) and Ajuda (+21.6%); the only fall was in Marvila (−1.5%).

Asking prices are usually higher than sale prices and depend heavily on what is on the market at the time: a few new-builds or homes with river views push a parish’s median up, while lots of flats needing renovation pull it down. INE’s sale median is per square metre, while the listing median is for the whole property, so parishes with larger flats look more expensive in the last column.

What is for sale around Lisbon

Across the 18 municipalities of the metropolitan area, our catalogue had 9,736 properties for sale as of 3 November 2026. The medians exclude duplicate listings of the same property by different agencies and offers below €30,000. The links in the table go to flats in each municipality; for Lisbon and Setúbal, the catalogue page covers the whole district of the same name.

For houses and villas, look in the sections by property type, such as houses in Cascais. New residential complexes are in the new developments section, and rentals under flats to rent in Lisbon; rental prices and contracts are covered in ‘Renting a home in Portugal’.

The metro beyond the city limits

Lisbon’s metro extends beyond the municipality: in 2004, extensions opened to Odivelas (yellow line) and to Amadora Este station in Amadora (blue line). In 2012 the red line reached the airport from Oriente, and in 2016 the blue line was extended to Reboleira station, which is also an interchange with buses and the suburban train.

Before choosing a suburb, check how long the journey to work or school takes at rush hour, whether there is a station nearby and how often the trains run. The operators publish their own timetables.

How to narrow your choice

• Set your budget with taxes included. You pay IMT (property transfer tax) and stamp duty when you buy, and non-residents have their own IMT rate for homes. The calculation is in our article on taxes.
• Compare your budget with the municipality’s median in the INE table. It shows where your money matches an average sale and where you will have to choose from more modest options.
• Look at what is on offer by parish in the catalogue and compare asking prices with sale prices.
• Compare with other regions: prices and supply in Porto and its suburbs and the Algarve are based on the same INE tables.
• If you need a mortgage, find out banks’ terms for non-residents early on; see our article ‘Mortgages in Portugal for non-residents’.
• Go through the purchase step by step: tax number, property checks, deposit contract and completion are covered in ‘How to buy property in Portugal’.

Our team can help you find properties in the areas you want and arrange viewings: get in touch.

This article is for information only and is not legal or tax advice. Rates and rules change — always check official sources and a professional before a transaction.