In this episode we tell the full story about how we found our Lisbon apartment – and how you can too! As you probably know the housing market in Lisbon is really crazy so we consider ourselves very lucky. We’re going to take you to the whole process (in detail!): from searching for apartments and viewings to actually signing a contract.
We talk about our expectations of finding an apartment in Lisbon and how it turned out in reality. Also we talk about mistakes we made during the process and things that we would have done differently if we were to do it again. We discuss the different documents and requirements that were needed in order to rent an apartment, what we found most important about an apartment and if the apartment where we live in now checks all the boxes (or not). Last but not least we have some advice for anyone who’s about to start apartment hunting in Lisbon.
Enjoy listening and don’t forget to rate the podcast and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform, like Spotify – it will help more hearts find our little corner of the world.
With love, April Betts & Anna Jirina.
About From Lisbon With Love
Welcome to From Lisbon With Love! A podcast about real stories of love, laughter, and life in Lisbon — from women who have left it all behind. We share real stories about moving to Lisbon, starting over and figuring life out along the way. We talk love, dating, friendships, breakups, healing, growing, all of it. Basically, the stuff we usually talk about over coffee ☕️ or vinho 🍷. If you’re thinking about moving to Lisbon, already here or just love honest conversations with heart: you’re in the right place! Learn more about our story here.
The current housing market in Lisbon
One thing you must know about Lisbon is that the housing market is crazy. And if we say crazy, we mean really crazy. Property prices in Lisbon have raised dramatically, over 176% between 2014-2024, with some areas seeing increases over 200%. Also Lisbon’s rent prices have seen significant increases, driven by tourism, investment, and limited supply.
Lisbon’s housing costs are now one of the highest in Europe in comparison to local wages, pricing out many young professionals and locals. We made a whole episode about Portugal’s cost of living crisis where we dive deeper into this topic, if you want to know more.
Apartment hunting in Lisbon
As you can imagine, apartment hunting in Lisbon is not for the weak. The market is extremely competitive, which makes people start to feel desperate and make them an easy target for being scammed. Especially as a foreigner you have to be cautious – something we also discuss in this episode. We’ll tell you how to make sure you’re not getting scammed and the red flags you need to look for.
Websites we used to find an apartment in Lisbon:
Idealista
Remax
Century21
Property Management used by April: https://casaazulpt.com
Finding a Lisbon apartment: the full guide
Although finding an apartment in Lisbon is challenging, it’s not impossible. Luckily it all worked out for us, something we are really grateful for! There’s many ways to find an apartment and we’re going to share exactly what we did to find our apartments: from searching to arranging viewings and signing the contract. We share our best tips on how to find an apartment quickly and we share the mistakes we made in the process, so you don’t have to make them!
Do you want to know all about the process of moving to Portugal as an EU- and US-citizen – the requirements and the steps you have to take? We made a whole episode about moving to Lisbon where we share exactly what we needed in order to move here.
Renting an apartment in Lisbon
In this episode we also talk about what renting an apartment in Lisbon is really like, since it might be a bit different than what your used to in your homecountry. At least, that’s how it was for us. As we dive deeper into the topic, there’s some confusion about the rent payment date (something we’re still not sure about). Listen the episode to find out and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube and leave a comment on this episode – we would love to hear your thoughts!
