The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pinto Luz, specified this Thursday, September 25, 2025, that the moderate rent limit has a range between 400 and 2,300 euros, with no municipal limits, to ensure transparency.

According to ECO, Miguel Pinto Luz clarifies that "it's a value that solves the problem for 90% of the country and addresses most of the areas under greatest pressure—the Lisbon metropolitan area, the Porto metropolitan area, and some municipalities in the Algarve—and that solves this problem of immediate price pressure. If I rent a property below the €2,300 threshold, my IRS rate goes from 25% to 10%. Therefore, it's a very strong incentive, but it doesn't stop there."

After conducting a "thorough analysis" of what's happening in several cities across the country, such as Lisbon, Porto, Oeiras, Loulé, Cascais, Vila Nova de Gaia, and Matosinhos—where there's "greatest pressure on housing," the official believes that "with incomes up to €2,300, we're moving directly into the middle class."

In his view, a family earning €5,750 per month is considered middle class. "Only in Portugal would this family be considered a wealthy family. Because we're talking, I repeat... about two engineers, a professor and a female engineer, two doctors, two nurses, a male nurse and a female doctor," Pinto Luz said, quoted by the same newspaper.

These values ​​have no municipal limits, a situation that was "considered," but which Luís Montenegro's government decided to abandon to be more transparent, Pinto Luz clarified during a meeting with journalists in Lisbon.

As the minister explained, this range allows all rents to be included, although he acknowledged that in the districts of Lisbon and Porto, there are rents above the maximum.

"We will have policies for all classes, from households that can't afford anything to those that can afford something," the minister assured at the meeting, which was also attended by Secretary of State for Housing Patrícia Gonçalves Costa.

On September 25, 2025, the government announced a set of measures for housing rentals.

Specifically, for moderate-income families, it determined that the tax deduction will be 15% up to a maximum of 900 euros in 2026, increasing this limit to 1,000 euros in 2027.

For landlords, for example, the IR (Individual Income Tax) rate is expected to be reduced from 25% to 10% on rental contracts for moderate-income housing.

Criticism

According to the concept announced by the Government and quoted by CNN, José Fernandes Martins, lawyer and spokesperson for the Northern Portugal Tenants and Condominium Association, has already responded, "It's a disgrace. Saying that a rent of 2,300 euros is moderate or that a house costing 600,000 euros will solve the housing problem is playing games with the Portuguese."

For the lawyer, the situation is clear – most families are far from reaching the benchmark values ​​set by the Government. "If the average salary is around 1,000 euros, how can you pay rents of 2,000 or 2,300 euros? It's impossible."