To support the purchase of a house in Madeira, you already need a monthly salary of more than €3,500

"Buying a house is an aspiration for many families in Portugal. But at what price is this dream available?", asks HelloSafe, a leading platform for comparing financial products (insurance, credit, investments) in Portugal. "That's what we wanted to find out, calculating the monthly minimum wage required by the banks for a family to get a mortgage for a 100m² property in the different districts and regions of Portugal". Based on this assumption, and with regard to Madeira, they conclude that it is the second region where it is necessary to earn more to be able to support the purchase of a house, but also the second where the price per square meter is more expensive, only behind the Portuguese capital.

"It is in the district of Lisbon that you must earn more to be able to buy a property of 100m²: a gross monthly income of €6,123", he says, before adding that "Madeira ranked 2nd in the country, followed by Faro and Porto. These three regions require a gross monthly salary of more than €3,000", whereas, in the case of Madeira, it is €3,573.

"On the other hand, Guarda (771 €), Portalegre (816 €) and Castelo Branco (879 €) are the regions of Portugal where a mortgage loan requires the lowest monthly income", with the "national average of gross minimum wage for a credit for a property of 100m² is €3,147", a value clearly inflated by the four regions mentioned above.

With an average gross salary of 3,165 euros to buy a 100m² house in Portugal, it is clear that the real estate market in the country presents significant financial challenges for families. Regional differences also highlight the need to carefully consider location and the costs involved in purchasing real estate. Buyers must assess their financial capabilities and explore suitable credit options before making this important investment.

Silvana Theodoro, analyst at HelloSafe Portugal

"The difference in the minimum wage needed to buy a property in different regions is strongly linked to the price per m², which varies greatly according to the region of Portugal. With this, we can observe that: The average price per m² of property in Lisbon (€4,232) is 7.6 times more expensive than in Guarda (€556).

In Madeira, once again in second place in this regard, the average price per square meter of a property is calculated in this study at 2,543 euros, well above the average.

"For this study, we calculated the hypothesis of a mortgage for a property of 100 m². With the average of the m² in each district and region of Portugal, we obtained the average price of a property of that size and simulated a mortgage with a fixed rate of 3.50% and with a duration of 25 years. Personal participation of 10% of the value of the property was considered, the minimum required by the banks. From the value of the instalment, we multiply it by three, to arrive at the salary necessary to have credit approval", explains HelloSafe Portugal the method used.