I still get asked about NHR every week, usually by a British or American buyer three or four years into planning a move around a flat 20% tax rate that doesn't exist anymore. It closed to new arrivals in 2024. What replaced it, IFICI, rules out most of the people I actually work with: retirees, because pensions sit outside it entirely, and remote workers, because their employer almost never meets the qualifying conditions. I wrote up what's actually true for anyone moving to Lagos in 2026, link below, because most of what's still circulating online hasn't caught up.

None of that changes why people buy here. What did change again this week is the price they're buying at. Algarve asking prices just set a fresh record, and the “market's cooling” headlines doing the rounds nationally aren't the story down here. More on that below.

_{Sources: INE, Idealista, ECB, Bank of England.}

Recorded sale prices in Lagos still run well below today's asking prices. That gap is where negotiation happens.

€4,202/m² · Algarve asking prices, Idealista's August 2026 index: a fresh regional record, up 8.7% year-on-year.

Idealista's latest index puts the whole Algarve at €4,202/m² for August, the region's highest reading on record, up 0.9% on the month and 8.7% on a year ago. Lagos sits above that regional average at €4,655/m², up 3.8% on the year, although it has eased a little from its May peak of €4,782/m². Set against that, the national transaction count tells a different story: Confidencial Imobiliário's latest hard number, Q1 2026, showed sales down 9.4% quarter-on-quarter, the second straight quarterly fall. Fewer deals are closing nationally, but asking prices down here are still climbing.

What I'd do with this: if you own here and you're hearing “the market's cooling” from a headline written about Lisbon or a national average, don't let it talk you into underpricing. The Algarve isn't showing that cooling. Lagos has paused for breath since May, which is exactly why pricing has to be right from day one: buyers have more choice and more patience than they did two years ago, so an overpriced Lagos listing sits while a well-priced one still moves close to asking. If you're weighing whether now's the moment to list, that's the real question, not whether the wider market is “still hot.”

Source: Idealista August 2026 price index (Algarve and Lagos); Confidencial Imobiliário, Q1 2026 transaction volume, via Global Property Guide. General market commentary, not financial advice.

Check your paperwork matches your house before you list.

The sales I see stall in Lagos rarely stall on price. They stall when the caderneta predial or the land registry shows a different area from what's actually built: an extension, a covered terrace, a pool added later. A buyer's lawyer will spot it, and fixing it mid-sale can take months. Pull both documents now and compare them with your floor plan. You'll also need a valid energy certificate before you can advertise.

General information, not legal advice.

Also this week on the blog: NHR Is Gone: What Portugal's IFICI Regime Means for Buyers in 2026 →

The record above is the kind of thing that quietly moves what your house is worth, and most owners I talk to are still carrying a number in their head from whenever they last looked, sometimes years ago. If you bought before the last couple of years, that number is very likely stale.

If you'd like a real figure rather than a portal estimate, I'll put one together from actual recent sales in your street and your bracket, not a regional average. It takes about 48 hours, there's no obligation attached, and I won't chase you afterwards. Plenty of people ask purely because they want to know, and that's reason enough.

Get a free valuation →