A buyer I've had on my books since the spring wants a two-bed apartment in Lagos. Not a villa, not a renovation project, just somewhere he can lock up and leave. In all that time I haven't been able to put a single one in front of him that was worth the flight.

That isn't him being fussy. Across the whole Western Algarve this week, 53 new listings came onto my radar and not one of them cleared the bar for any of the 44 buyers I'm actively searching for. Fifty-three listings, forty-four buyers, no matches.

If you own an apartment in Lagos, read that back. The number below is the version of it that should interest you.

Steve

Buyers on my books looking for a two-bed apartment in Lagos around €700,000, against the number of matching listings I can actually show them.

That gap comes from my own pipeline review on Monday, not from a press release. Ten buyers with real briefs, financing in various states of readiness, all wanting the same thing: a two-bedroom apartment in or close to Lagos at or under roughly €700,000. Matching stock currently on my listed inventory: none.

Some of that is August. Owners here spend these weeks renting their places out rather than showing them, and listing flow across the region has slowed to a trickle. But this particular shortage was there before August and it will still be there in September. Lagos hasn't built many new apartments, and the ones that exist rarely change hands.

What I'd do with this: if you own a two-bed in or around Lagos and selling has been a someday thought, this is the rare moment when the queue works in your favour. You'd be listing into a market with buyers already waiting and very little for them to compare you against, which is the opposite of where most sellers find themselves. Worth knowing what yours is genuinely worth against real recent sales, rather than a portal estimate, before you decide anything either way.

Source: SunnySteve pipeline review, 17 August 2026, and daily buyer matching run, 20 August 2026. Internal data from my own buyer book and listed inventory. General market commentary, not investment advice.

Also this week on the blog: Portugal's 7.5% IMT: There Is No 1 September Deadline →

In a market this thin, the thing that decides whether you get the right place is whether I know you're looking before it appears. Very little worth having in Lagos reaches a portal without two or three people already circling it, and the people who get the call are the ones whose brief is already sitting in front of me.

So send me yours. Town or towns, rough budget, how many bedrooms, whether you need a pool or would rather have a walk to the beach, and roughly when you want to be in. Two lines is plenty. I'll tell you straight what that buys right now, including if the honest answer is that your budget and your list don't match up yet.

Tell me your brief →