Buying a home in Portugal can mean having to make decisions quickly, with new figures showing that 12% of properties advertised for sale were sold in less than seven days.
By , in News, Housing · 21 Oct 2026, 11:03 · 0 Comments
According to an analysis by property platform idealista, around one in eight homes listed during the third quarter of 2026 was sold within a week.
But not every property is disappearing quite so quickly.
Another 18% of homes were sold within a month, while 27% took between one and three months. A further 37% spent between three months and a year on the market, and 6% remained listed for more than a year.
The speed of sales also varies considerably depending on location.
Proportion of quick sales
Ponta Delgada in the Azores recorded the highest proportion of quick sales among the cities analysed, with 16% of homes selling within a week. Aveiro followed at 15%, with Porto at 14%.
Braga, Funchal, Portalegre and Viana do Castelo each recorded 12%.
In Faro, 10% of properties were sold within seven days, slightly below the national average.
The Algarve
Across the wider Faro district, which covers the Algarve, the figure was lower at 8%.
The region also recorded a relatively high proportion of properties taking longer to sell, with 42% spending between three months and a year on the market.
Lisbon presented a similar contrast. Just 7% of homes in the capital were sold within a week, while 42% took between three months and a year.
Districts and islands
Looking at entire districts and islands rather than individual cities, São Miguel in the Azores led the country, with 19% of homes selling in under seven days.
Viana do Castelo followed at 18%, with Porto at 17%.
The figures suggest that while some homes are attracting buyers almost immediately, others are spending considerably longer on the market.
For anyone looking to buy in Portugal, location, price and the type of property can all make a difference to how quickly a home finds a buyer.
Kam Heskin is an American writer, journalist, presenter, and actress who spent 25 years in Los Angeles building an extensive career in front of the camera. Her credits include Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, playing the female lead, Paige Morgan, in three films in The Prince & Me franchise, and major roles in the NBC daytime dramas Sunset Beach and Passions. She has also appeared in various television series including Charmed, Angel, and CSI: NY.
A graduate in Communications and Political Science, Kam has always had a parallel interest in writing and storytelling. In Los Angeles, she contributed to luxury fashion and lifestyle magazine Genlux. Since moving to Portugal in 2022, she has written for Wherever magazine, where she was a columnist and social editor, creating and running Seen in the Algarve, the magazine’s social diary, for three years.
Today, Kam writes and creates video content for The Portugal News and also presents its online weather reports. Her work draws on decades of on-camera experience, a journalist’s curiosity and the perspective of an American building a life in Portugal. Away from the camera and keyboard, she can usually be found playing padel, exploring the Algarve or spending time with her two sons.

Kam Heskin
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