Just one in four promised student residence beds ready as housing crisis deepens – Portugal Resident
Portugal has completed just over a quarter of the student accommodation beds promised under its National Higher Education Accommodation Plan (PNAES) – despite a deadline less than two months away for projects financed through the country’s PRR (Brussels’ backed Plan for Recovery and Resilience Plan).
Official figures, cited by Público, show that only 5,014 of the planned 18,758 new beds are currently available — just 27% of the target — while around 60% of construction projects remain unfinished.
The shortfall comes as accommodation costs continue to rise, with the average monthly rent for a student room now standing at €423 – reaching €500 in Lisbon – prompting student representatives to call for a second national accommodation programme.
According to PNAES data updated on June 24, only 53 of the 134 planned projects had been completed, while 81 remained under construction. These include 31 new student residences, 24 building conversion projects, 17 refurbishment schemes and nine renovations in partially-occupied buildings.
Completed works account for around €129 million of investment, compared with the programme’s total budget of almost €467 million.
Portugal’s PRR monitoring commission had already warned that many projects were unlikely to meet the August 31 deadline – citing storm damage, labour shortages and logistical difficulties, including delays in connecting buildings to essential infrastructure.
Despite the setbacks, several higher education institutions are expanding accommodation capacity.
The Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra recently opened its new R2 residence, providing 105 beds. Together with the refurbished R1 residence, the institute now offers 211 upgraded beds through a €2.7 million PRR-funded investment.
The University of Lisbon has also announced that it will make an additional 1,018 beds available for the 2026/27 academic year, following the creation of 488 beds the previous year. The university has invested €80 million in student accommodation, including €49.5 million from the PRR.
Student leaders, however, argue that the increase will still fall well short of demand.
Diogo Machado, president of the National Federation of Polytechnic Higher Education Student Associations (FNAEESP), said the additional accommodation would not meet the needs of Portugal’s more than 100,000 students studying away from home.
He called for a “PNAES 2.0” programme to expand the supply of affordable accommodation, including by converting vacant state-owned buildings into student residences.
Meanwhile, many students continue to rely on Portugal’s increasingly expensive private rental market.
Figures from the Student Accommodation Observatory show the average cost of a room has risen by €30 since 2024 and by €8 over the past year.
Lisbon remains the country’s most expensive university city, with average monthly rents of €500, followed by Porto at around €450. Faro, Setúbal, Ponta Delgada and Funchal also record average rents between €400 and €450, while Aveiro and Braga average around €350 per month.
Although the number of rooms advertised has increased by 63% since 2024, from 5,666 to 9,254, prices have continued to climb, placing further pressure on students and their families.
At the same time, uncertainty remains over the government’s planned overhaul of higher education financial support.
Under the proposed reforms, scholarship students would also be able to rent accommodation on the private market without losing state support, while students unable to secure a place in a university residence would receive grants linked to rental costs in the municipality where they study.
source: Executive Digest
