But the reality is deeper and, above all, older. What we are experiencing today is the result of a model built over decades, where there was a clear choice that shaped the market as we know it.

Portugal has chosen to encourage home buying instead of consistently investing in the creation of public housing and a structured rental market. This strategy had merit in its time. It allowed many families to access the property, boosted construction, and created a majority ownership company. For years, it worked. But as so often happens, what solves a problem at one moment ends up creating another later.

Today, we see this effect clearly. With only a small percentage of public housing, well below the European average, the country was left without a real balancing mechanism in the market. For a while, it was believed that the housing problem was solved, especially after programs like PER that responded to emergency situations. But this perception proved to be illusory. As prices began to rise, driven by a combination of economic, urban, and even global factors, and household incomes lagged behind, the system began to show its weaknesses.

The result is a scenario that we know well today. There are houses, but there is no access. There is construction, but there is no balance. And there are more and more people who, even with stable incomes, cannot find solutions compatible with their reality. Stories such as those who resort to affordable rent programs show the positive impact that public intervention can have, but also highlight that it is still on a small scale.

At the same time, the territory is transforming. Metropolitan areas continue to concentrate population, investment, and price pressure, while other regions lag behind. This territorial inequality is not only an economic issue, but it is also a social and structural one, and it tends to worsen if there is no coordinated response.

There is also a factor that is rarely properly valued in the public debate: the complexity of the system itself. Building in Portugal is a long, uncertain, and expensive process. It involves multiple entities, demanding regulations and waiting times that can exceed several years. All this makes projects more expensive and, inevitably, is reflected in the final price of the houses. It is not just about a lack of supply; it is also about the difficulty in creating that offer efficiently.

In this context, it is clear that the market alone cannot solve the problem. Not because it does not work, but because it responds to the incentives that exist. And these incentives continue to favour projects with higher profitability, generally directed to higher segments.

Perhaps this is where the debate should evolve. Not just about how many houses are built, but about what kind of market we want to have. A market where housing is just an asset or a market where it also fulfils a more balanced social function. This does not imply replacing the private but rather creating conditions so that different models can coexist.

Portugal today has the opportunity to correct part of this path. With more awareness of the problem, greater social pressure and a context that demands solutions, it is possible to build a more balanced model. But this requires consistency, vision and, above all, continuity in policies.

Because in the end, housing is not just an economic issue. It is one of the foundations of any stable society. And the way we decide to act now will define not only the market, but the very way we live in our cities in the coming years.