A short selection of news on housing, valuation, credit and construction, each with a comment of mine. It is not a newspaper: a few entries a week, and every comment is mine, word for word.

José Covas FRICS

How it works

1. An internal process reads the public RSS feeds of four Portuguese newspapers and filters them by keyword. That list is only for me to choose from; it is not published.
2. For each article I choose, the entry shows the newspaper, the date, the headline and a link to the original article, plus my comment. None of the article’s text is copied.
3. If my comment cites an official figure, it is checked against the official series in the Barometer before it goes up.

Sources followed

• ECO — official RSS feed
• Jornal de Negócios — official RSS feed
• Público — Economy feed
• Expresso — official RSS feed (Impresa)

Entries

• ECO · 11 November 2026

  INE confirma subida da inflação para 3,8% em outubro (in Portuguese)

  Comment by José Covas, FRICS: INE confirmed inflation as measured by the CPI. In the Barometer I show the harmonised index (HICP), which Eurostat puts at 3.9% for Portugal in October 2026, after 3.6% in September. They are two measures of the same thing, with slightly different coverage.

• Público · 10 November 2026

  Banca estimula procura por crédito, mas justifica preços das casas com falta de oferta (in Portuguese)

  Comment by José Covas, FRICS: Two official figures for this discussion. The median bank valuation reached €2,278/m² in September 2026, 14.2% more than a year earlier (INE), and the agreed rate on new housing loans was 3.07%, against 2.84% in September 2025 (Banco de Portugal). A bank valuation measures the value the bank accepts as collateral, not the price paid.

• Expresso · 9 November 2026

  Contabilistas escrevem a Montenegro por causa do IVA na construção: “Uma boa medida pode perder grande parte da sua eficácia” (in Portuguese)

  Comment by José Covas, FRICS: Construction cost is the backdrop to this debate: INE’s index for new housing stood at 135.69 in September 2026 (2021 = 100), 7.4% above September 2025. The index measures materials and labour; it excludes land, permits, developer margin and taxes (including VAT).

• Expresso · 9 November 2026

  Preços das casas sobem mais de 60% face aos rendimentos em Portugal numa década, o maior aumento da UE (in Portuguese)

  Comment by José Covas, FRICS: Eurostat’s data in the Barometer show the gap on the price side: in Q2 2026 housing in Portugal was 16.5% more expensive than a year earlier, against 4.7% in the European Union. The price-to-income ratio is not in the Barometer; on the income side, I show wages (labour cost index, +5.4% in the same quarter).

Not a valuation, and not investment advice. A valuation for mortgage lending in Portugal is carried out by a valuer registered with the CMVM. No forecasts, and no recommendations to buy, sell or borrow.