The number: €532 to €570 a square metre
From 2026, Portugal’s official average construction value rises from €532 to €570 per square metre. The taxable construction component therefore moves from €665 to €712.50 per square metre. It sounds like a market price. It isn’t. This is one input in the VPT calculation, the number the tax office uses, not the number your neighbour paid.
| Construction value input | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Average construction value, per m² | €532 | €570 |
| Taxable construction component, per m² | €665 | €712.50 |
Who feels it, and who doesn’t
Three groups are in. New construction, renovations or reconstructions that trigger assessment, and properties formally revalued in 2026. One group is mostly out: resale homes, which keep their current VPT unless they are revalued. If nobody revalues your apartment, nothing changes.
A Cascais renovation, in real euros
For a 200m² renovation, the direct change in the construction component is €9,500. At Cascais’s cited 0.35% urban IMI rate, that simple component effect is €33.25 a year before location, use, quality, age and other statutory coefficients.
€33.25 a year is real money. It is not a reason to cancel a renovation.
Three questions to ask before you sign
Buying a resale?
Compare the actual property tax record. The IMI already paid is the number you inherit, not a projection.
Buying a new development?
Ask how the first assessment is modelled. That first valuation sets the baseline you pay on for years.
Renovating?
Check whether the renovation work will trigger reassessment. Better to know at the quote stage than at the bill stage.
Then model IMI beside the rest of the real cost: condominium charges, insurance, maintenance and financing. IMI is the line item everyone forgets. It shouldn’t arrive as a surprise.
Sources
- Portaria n.º 471/2025/1, de 26 de dezembro, published in the Diário da República, fixes the 2026 average construction value at €570/m² (reported at imojuris.vidaimobiliaria.com)
- Urban IMI rates of 0.3% to 0.45%, set by each municipality under article 112 of the Código do IMI (summarised at audico.pt)