For decades, the Portuguese model has been strongly oriented towards home ownership. Buying a house has become synonymous with stability, security and asset building, while renting has often remained a temporary solution. The problem is naturally not in the property. It is in the absence of a real alternative for those who prefer or need to rent.

The numbers show how this alternative remains underdeveloped from an institutional point of view. According to WORX's WMarket Review Mid-year 2026, investment in PRS/multifamily in Portugal will have totalled only around 440 million euros in the last five years, corresponding to approximately 4% of institutional real estate investment made in that period. The report identifies significant potential in this segment, in a market where housing demand continues to outstrip supply.

I am well acquainted with European markets where renting occupies a much more structural position in the housing system, namely the German one, where I was born. Portugal should naturally not copy models that result from different economic, social and historical realities. But there is an important conclusion to be drawn from these experiences: renting a house for a significant part of one's life does not have to represent instability or be just a stage while you cannot buy it.

There is also an economic dimension that we rarely associate with housing. A developed rental market facilitates people's mobility. A family that bought a house in a certain city, took on a long-term loan and organised its entire life around that decision faces relevant costs if a professional opportunity arises in another region. Selling, buying again, changing children from school and assuming all the associated costs can make a more attractive salary proposal no longer pay off.

In a broader, professionally and geographically diverse rental market, this decision can be simpler. People can move to where there are better jobs, companies can recruit in a wider geographical area and regions with greater economic dynamism can receive workers more easily. Housing is no longer just a social issue and also becomes part of the discussion about labour mobility, competitiveness and productivity.

This does not mean replacing property with rent. Portugal needs both solutions. It means creating a market where buying a house is a choice and not practically the only way to achieve housing stability. For this, we need long-term professional supply, scale, predictable rules and a framework that gives security to both tenants and investors.

Institutional investment can play an important role here. Funds, insurance companies, pension funds and other long-term investors can contribute to creating an offer specifically for rentals, provided that the economic and regulatory conditions are in place to do so.

After decades of encouraging the Portuguese to settle down through ownership, perhaps it is time to recognise the economic value of mobility as well. An efficient housing market should allow people to put down roots when they want but also move to another city when a better opportunity arises. The house we live in should not determine the job we can accept.