Portugal's home sales fell 7.7% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, to 75,860 transactions. That's according to Confidencial Imobiliário, a private real estate data provider. Despite that, the major real estate networks that shared figures with ECO grew revenue by about 9% and business volume by roughly 5.6%. Home prices were 18.6% higher in June than a year earlier, according to the same index.

That combination, fewer sales but higher prices, largely explains the disconnect. A more expensive house sold still generates a bigger commission than a cheaper one, even if fewer houses change hands overall.

It's worth noting that none of this is official government data yet. Portugal's statistics agency (INE) won't publish first-half 2026 housing figures until September 22. Everything here comes from Confidencial Imobiliário's index and the networks' own self-reported numbers, not yet independently verified statistics.

Growth this year is also much slower than last year's. In the first half of 2025, both revenue and business volume at these networks jumped more than 30% year-on-year. This year's roughly 9% and 5.6% growth still represents growth, but at a much slower pace.

What the major networks reported

Four networks shared first-half figures with ECO: Remax, Era, Keller Williams, and Zome. Century 21 was contacted but declined to participate.

Zome was the only one of the four to actually grow transactions, up 11% to 5,563 from 5,012, alongside a 10% rise in business volume to €1.19 billion and 7% revenue growth to €26.75 million. CEO Carlos Santos said "a decline in transactions warrants attention, but doesn't justify an immediate revision of targets," arguing demand "hasn't disappeared, it's become more selective" against an increasingly short and expensive supply of homes.

Keller Williams posted its best first half ever in Portugal, €43 million in revenue, up 13.3%, enough to distribute more than €800,000 to its agents through its "Growth Share" program, which shares 2% of total revenue with associates. Total purchase, sale and rental transactions held steady at about 7,300.

Era's transaction count actually fell, down 1.6% to 6,300 deals, but revenue still rose 6% to €63.2 million and business volume rose 5.8% to €1.24 billion. New property listings grew 7% to 19,040. CEO Rui Torgal said he "wouldn't confuse a possible reduction in transaction numbers with a weakness in the business model," arguing the real constraint isn't buyer demand but supply: "listings grew 7%. That's where the market is being won right now."

Remax doesn't disclose its total transaction count, but reported business volume up 3.7% to €4.22 billion, with the average sale price rising to €239,900 from €213,500 a year earlier. President Manuel Alvarez called it the network's best first half and best second quarter ever.

Where foreign and institutional buyers fit in

Foreign and institutional buyers help explain part of the gap between fewer sales and more revenue generated. According to Portugal's national statistics institute (INE), buyers with a foreign tax domicile paid a median 29.7% more per square meter than domestic buyers in the first quarter of 2026, a gap that widens to 34.5% in Greater Lisbon and 24.5% in the Algarve. Companies, financial and non-financial entities combined, paid €2,142 per square meter in median terms, up 33.8% from a year earlier.

The four networks painted noticeably different pictures of the role foreign buyers are playing. At Era, roughly 85% of home-purchase registrations were Portuguese buyers, up 5 percentage points year-on-year, leading Torgal to argue "there's a tendency to overstate the weight of foreign buyers in the housing market," though he said international demand still represents about 15% of the network's clients. Keller Williams' Nuno Ascensão described the opposite trend, "a reduction in foreign investment in Portugal," though he said Brazil remains the top foreign buyer nationality and the luxury segment hasn't slowed. Zome's Carlos Santos said foreign demand remains strong specifically in the Algarve, Lisbon, Porto, and coastal markets, concentrated in the mid-to-premium segments. Remax reported foreign clients made up about 20% of its results, present in 22.1% of transactions and 18.32% of revenue, broadly similar to a year earlier, with Brazilian buyers the largest group at 7.63% of transactions, followed by Angolan, American, French, and Ukrainian buyers.