House prices up 16.5% in a year, sales down — and 4 in 5 new mortgages now on a mixed rate

According to INE, house prices in the second quarter of 2026 were 16.5% higher than a year earlier (17.8% in the first quarter) and 3.6% higher than in the previous quarter. There were 40,142 sales, 6.4% fewer than a year before, worth €10.7 billion (+4.2%). The Banco de Portugal's latest banking report shows that the mixed rate — fixed for a first period, then variable — now accounts for about 80% of new mortgage lending, against 10% in 2019–2021, when 86% was variable. The median fixed period is two years, while in other euro-area countries it often runs over ten.