More offer of accommodation not enough to lower student income

Pthe first phase of the National Competition for Access to Higher Education (CNAES) and for many this result dictated the beginning of a new phase in another city and away from home.   

After this first test, the next step for thousands of displaced students is to find accommodation, a challenge marked by lack of supply and high prices in the rental market.

This year, however, there are more rooms available in cities that usually receive more students, according to the Student Housing Observatory, which identifies the private offer of accommodation for students and rents practiced at national level.

At the end of last week, when the results of CNAES had not yet been released, the platform identified 3,720 rooms in Lisbon, more 1,042 than in early August 2025. 

The trend is repeated in Porto, where the 1,218 available rooms represent an increase of 53% compared to the previous year, in Coimbra, where the offer grew 74%, and in Aveiro, which has almost twice as many accommodation options.

If, on the one hand, the highest supply can facilitate the demand for accommodation, on the other, rent prices remain an obstacle.

Like the average rents recorded last August, a quarter in Lisbon continues to be around 500 euros a month, making the capital the most expensive city to study.

Also in Coimbra and Aveiro the average rents spent a year — 300 euros and 350 euros, respectively — and in Porto renting a room can be even more expensive this year, now around 430 euros a month, plus 30 euros than in 2025.

“The rental market is becoming unfeasible,” said the head of a group of private university residences, reporting that this segment is becoming an option for increasingly difficult Portuguese students.

With higher monthly fees compared to one-bedroom rentals in a shared apartment, private homes are a popular choice especially among foreign students, who often represent most residents.

However, the rise in housing prices in recent years has led Portuguese families to seek alternatives.

“The market realized the added value of residences. For parents, who want to have predictability about expenses, the fact that they have all accounts included gives them a lot of peace of mind, in addition to the security issue,” explained Rui Fajardo, regional operations director of Livensaliving.

Between the two residences of the group in Lisbon, two in Porto and one in Coimbra, about half of the residents in the last school year were Portuguese, including scholarship students, who were able to support part of the tuition with the supplement of accommodation allocated by the State.

In the facilities of the University City, in Lisbon, the tuition of a shared room is around 600 euros, including expenses, and residents also have access to study areas, kitchens and dining spaces, gym, swimming pool, cinema and games rooms, and activities organized by the residence throughout the year.

All in all, Rui Fajardo says that more and more families recognize that the price difference pays and many students end up living in the residence throughout the academic course.

Others, however, seek alternatives in the peripheries in search of more economical incomes, but increasing the distance from the university does not always represent significant savings.

In the neighboring municipalities of the capital, for example, the average rent price varies between 480 euros in Oeiras and 400 euros in Almada, the cheapest alternative compared to Lisbon.

To the north, the difference between the “undefeated city” for neighboring municipalities does not exceed 55 euros per month, with average rents varying between 400 euros in Matosinhos and Gondomar, and 375 euros in Maia.