The average sales price of homes in mainland Portugal fell once again in September, according to the Confidencial Imobiliário (CI) index. According to its figures, house prices were down 0.8% compared to August, while the year-on-year fall for the average residential transaction value was down by 3.9%.

The index bases its calculations on sales numbers obtained from 1,400 selected real estate agencies across Portugal. Contrary to the Greater Metropolitan Areas of Lisbon and Porto, the Algarve managed to record a 2% month-on-month increase in September.

In its autumn report, Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) meanwhile said that the residential market continues to struggle, which it blames on households’ low levels of confidence, unemployment, higher taxes and borrowing costs.

However, C&W suggest that the property market in Portugal may have bottomed out. Unemployment fell in Q3 down by 0.8% to 15.6%, but it was only down by 0.2% compared to Q3 2012, according to Statistics Portugal, signalling that the recovery still has a long way to go.