In 2022, the median effort rate with permanent home loans for borrowers was 14.5% and 116 municipalities (38% of all municipalities), mainly located in the Norte, Grande Lisboa, Península de Setúbal and Algarve regions, had median values higher than the national reference. In 307 of the 308 municipalities in the country there was an increase in the median value of the effort rate with permanent home loans compared to 2021 (when it had been 12.8%). Considering only borrowers with at least one contract celebrated in 2022 (6.9% of all borrowers), the median effort rate was 19.1% (15.5% in 2021).

In Portugal, the 20% of borrowers with the highest effort rates used almost 1/4 (24.0%) of their income to pay their mortgage instalments in 2022 (21.0% in 2021). The municipal analysis identified 65 municipalities with values above 25% in this indicator, with Aljezur registering the highest value (31.9%). In 2021, 13 municipalities had values above 25 %.

The median effort rate with permanent home loans in 2022 was higher for borrowers up to 34 years old (17.2%) compared to borrowers aged 35 to 64 (14.2%) and borrowers aged 65 or over (13.3%). Algarve, Alto Tâmega e Barroso, Região Autónoma da Madeira, Grande Lisboa and Alto Minho registered effort rates for younger borrowers above 18%.

The median effort rate for borrowers with contracts involving two or more borrowers was 13.8%, and 17.3% for those with a single borrower. The segmentation by sex of the median effort rate for borrowers with contracts involving only a single borrower showed higher values for women (17.7%) compared to men (16.9%). This pattern was also observed in 22 of the 26 NUTS 3 sub-regions. Algarve was the sub-region with the highest housing effort rates for borrowers in contracts involving a single borrower for both sexes.

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