The study took place between July and November 2023 and aimed to assess the perceptions of the Portuguese regarding current issues, including the housing crisis.

Comparing these results to those obtained in July 2023, in November last year there was a decrease of 4.5 percentage points (pp) in respondents whose household dedicates 31 to 50% of their income to spending on rent or house payments.

On the other hand, there was a slight increase in both the number of participants who say they allocate 0% of their income and those who say they allocate between 11 and 20% of their household income to this type of expenditure, (+1.3 pp and +3 .4 pp, respectively).

The analysis by the Observatory of Portuguese Society of Católica-Lisbon also states that 16.2% of respondents indicate that they do not have any costs for rent or mortgage payments.

“There is, therefore, a decrease in the effort rate of Portuguese households between July 2023 and November 2023, which could be explained by different supports established by the State, such as extraordinary income support, the credit moratorium housing, or a temporary interest subsidy”.

When asked whether housing prices in their area of residence have risen in the last year, 95.4% believe that they have, with 30.6% saying that they have increased a lot and 64.8% saying that they have increased a lot.

Only 0.1% of respondents consider that prices have not increased, says the study, also noting an increase of 1.8 percentage points in November 2023 of those who consider that prices in their locality have increased a lot in the last year.

Concerns

The vast majority (91.1%) are concerned about the housing situation in Portugal, while 59.9% of respondents are very concerned and 3.7% are slightly to not concerned at all.

The conclusions of the study also indicate that 62.6% of respondents indicate that they live in their own home, 27.1% are in a rented house and 10.3% are in another situation.

The sample included the participation of 1,000 respondents, aged between 20 and 75 years old, which, compared to national proportions collected in the 2021 Census, "is quite similar, only with a higher proportion of individuals between 50 and 59 years old and a lower proportion of adults between 60 and 69 years old, given the collection characteristics of the online panel studies".