[Solved] May 2022 is a HIGHLY Competitive Rental Market: Finding a Modern Apartment was Much Harder Than We Expected

Sorry all!  I hit enter before the post was finished.  Here's what I meant to post!

Hi everyone,

We are just finishing our exploratory tour of Portugal this week and we were able to sign a lease today.  We found it much more difficult to find the apartment we wanted, and I wanted to share our experience so others are prepared for it and aren't surprised.

We thought we wanted to move to Coimbra.  We liked the idea of a central, university town, with close access to dark skies in the mountains to the east.  My husband is an astronomer and loves to stay up all night with his telescopes star gazing.  Because of his hobby we were searching for an apartment or house with a south facing wide sky view from a patio or terrace.

The rental market in Coimbra is extremely tight, unless you want to live in student housing.  I hope our days of student housing are past for us!  I've been watching the Coimbra rental market for about a year, and occasionally see a nicer, newer apartment for rent but they go quickly.  We planned to stay in Coimbra for 2 weeks to find our apartment, but we were unable find a single apartment that met our requirements, even after hiring an agent to help us.  They couldn't find one either.  I finally went to a new development I've been watching and spoke with the contractor.  He referred me to a couple of realtors, one of whom had an apartment in the complex.  I ran to see it that evening (stacked with other people who were seeing it) and while nice and new, it felt claustrophobic to me.  They were renting a new 2 BR unfurnished apartment with central heat, air conditioning, a parking space and small terrace for 950 euros / month.  It was leased within 24 hours.  

We cut our trip short in Coimbra.  We found the city, while lovely, was quieter than we wanted.  Since we couldn't find an apartment anyway, we decided we'd prefer to be in Porto with more going on. This surprised us after a year of thinking we wanted to live in Coimbra.

To find apartment leads, we obsessed over Idealista twice daily to catch any new listings.  There were many more apartments in Porto (including Gaia and Matosinhos) to choose from, even a few with the kind of terrace Bob needs.  Unfortunately the condition of the apartments we saw were too old, or too expensive, or had street lights over the terrace, or didn't have heat, etc.  We were able to see 6 apartments during the week, after pouring through hundreds of listings and contacting many.  During this week we were also looking for apartments in Lisbon and Cascais to view the following week, in case we couldn't find what we wanted in Porto.

We found one very nice 2 BR furnished apartment we were excited about.  It has central heat, air and parking in a busy location in Porto, and the building was completely renovated in 2018.  However we were told we wouldn't be able to view it until the tenants moved out at the end of June. That didn't work for our schedule.  Because the apartment was so much nicer than anything else we'd seen in our price range, we applied to take it without viewing it.  Despite that not being ideal, at the same time, another couple offered the same .  We ended up in a very competitive situation both bidding on the apartment.  In the meanwhile, our week in Porto was over and we relocated to Lisbon.

While waiting to hear the owner's decision on the apartment in Porto, we looked at 6 apartments in Cascais and Lisbon.  These were sourced through Idealista, friends, and a local realtor.  While we felt the general condition of most of the apartments we saw in Lisbon was better and more spacious than in Porto, they were also significantly more expensive.  That said, we almost preferred an unfurnished apartment in Lisbon to the one in Porto, but the sky view didn't work for Bob.

Ultimately we were very lucky and the owner of the apartment in Porto chose us, I think because we were first in line with our offer.  We signed the lease today, three days before we return to the US.

Such a long story!  But I just wanted to let fellow apartment hunters know how proactive we had to be to find our apartment.  We find the current market extremely tight and much more expensive than we expected.  Perhaps you'll be much luckier than we were and you won't have as difficult a requirement to meet as we did.  However even if you hire someone to help, be prepared to study the market independently.  Ask friends to help you search.  Send emails on properties you're interested in through Idealista's messaging (it translates!), search out several professional realtors to help you search, and be proactive in managing any conversations when you get the chance to have them.

A new friend advised us to "Trust the Portuguese people and let them take care of you."  We have found them to be incredibly helpful and hardworking, and we are very appreciative of their support during this time.  However without significant effort and initiative on our part, we would be leaving Portugal without a lease.  

We wish you the best of luck with your house hunting.  Let us know if we can be of any help.

Thank You for sharing. Can you share the price for the Porto apartment you went with. We found it interesting that Coimbra was 950. We are in a 2BR furnished apartment in Lisbon. The apartment has street parking only but has central heat/AC and cost us 1400.

Wow! Nothing like searching the entire country to find a suitable apartment...just in the nick of time!  Kudos to your tenacity Bob & Karen and congratulations on finding your new abode and entry locale. We appreciate your tale and it reiterates the challenge we all must go through. Whether one is renting or buying...takes time, hard work, lots of luck and good Karma to find a new "home". Did your lease begin already, so you are covering the rent even though back home to get your application process done, or lucky enough for it to start later?