Looking to buy property in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra or the Algarve? Portugal’s closest thing to “Zillow” is Idealista (www.idealista.pt), the leading website for property listings across the Portuguese mainland, as well as Madeira and the Azores. (Although it’s way less high-tech than Zillow.)

There are also several other property listing sites offering both rental accommodation and sales listings (A few sites specialize in one of the other.)

Whether you’re looking for D7 Visa accommodation, looking for an investment property, or simply wish to buy a second home in Portugal, these sites can help you find the right property for you…

IF YOU’RE BUYING…

Discover the most prominent Portuguese property listing websites below:

1. IDEALISTA: This is generally considered to be the Portugal Zillow, and is the country’s top real estate listing site.The brand has invested heavily in marketing, and you can expect to see its outdoor advertising and billboards in in-flight magazines, at Portuguese airport terminals, and even in the country’s two largest cities, Porto and Lisbon.The Idealista site offers full searching and extensive filtering capabilities, and the mobile app works brilliantly. You can also set up alerts for price reductions, and bookmark your favorites with ease.It purportedly receives in excess of 10 million site visits per month.

   And crammed with tens of thousands of listings, you’ll be spoiled for choice.Pros: Countrywide coverage, tons of fresh listings, stable, intuitive app and ability to set price and new listing alerts. Farms, land, storage facilities, commercial spaces, retail spaces, and lots and lots of residential listings.

   Cons: Lots and LOTS of outdated, long-gone listings – mostly due to agents not taking their old listings down – but several options of filtering by listing age to ensure you’re looking at available properties. You can also not filter by “private seller only” (yet)…
   
   There is also a Spain Idealista (www.idealista.com) and an Italy Idealista (www.idealista.it), should you be considering buying in either of these two countries.

   To find out more about Idealista Portugal, visit www.idealista.pt.

2. IMOVIRTUAL: The website is similar to Idealista in many useful ways, but with fewer listings – and one critical deficiency – you cannot search by drawing a circle on a map.(You do have this option in the app, however it was incredibly slow to load on an iPhone the first time we downloaded and opened it (for us at least).You may find some properties that are not listed on Idealista here, so it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on the site. The site purportedly gets in excess of 3 million visits per month, so it’s not small by any means.For more information and to view their latest property listings, visit www.imovirtual.com (NOT www.imovirtual.pt, although that URL redirects correctly).
3. CASA SAPO PORTUGAL: Established in 2001, Casa Sapo is another top national property listing site. The site receives an estimated 1.2 million views per month, the site caters to both a local and international audience.It is available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, and covers a comprehensive range of properties in Portugal.Unlike on Idealista, there is a listing fee to promote your property on Casa Sapo.For more information and to find out more about this Portuguese industry pioneer, visit www.casa.sapo.pt – NOT casasapo.pt.
4. GREEN ACRES PORTUGAL: Green Acres is another multi-country property listing brand with a Portuguese specific website.While they do offer a mobile app, we found its UX rather clunky.Each search is a multi-step process with user inputs required – you can’t just search by location and then filter your results down subsequently.

   And while we have no statistical data around this, we’ve found, through personal use, that Green Acres’ listing descriptions are frequently either sparse or non-existent.

   For more information and to view their latest Portuguese listings, visit www.green-acres.pt

5. PURE PORTUGAL: While numerous internationally based websites offer extensive Portuguese property listings – think the likes of RightMove.co.uk et al – these sites tend to carry either higher-end stock, or listings that have been priced with foreign buyers in mind.*So while we’ve opted not to dedicated much airtime to listings targeting specific foreign buying markets like the US or UK, we decided to include Pure Portugal based on its enthusiasts’ appeal.Their website has somewhat of a homespun feel, rather than the slick UX and extensive filtering capabilities of an Idealista or a Casa Sapo. And yet, the site frequently carries scores of cheap(er) and cheerful countryside gems.

   So if you’re looking to obtain a country home somewhere in the Portuguese interior, and you’re a bit of a treasure hunter (like ourselves), then we highly recommend that you check them out.
   For more information and to scour their Portuguese countryside listings, visit www.pureportugal.co.uk

   *Social property forums are rife with complaints that even properties listed on Idealista can be inflated price-wise. So regardless of where you’re shopping around for a Portuguese property, it’s imperative to do your homework properly.

   IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO RENT…

6. UNIPLACES: If you’re looking to rent long-term accommodation in Portugal to apply for the D7 Visa, you’ll likely already know that Airbnb bookings are NOT accepted as valid proof of address – even if you book for a year.This is where flexible, medium-t0-long-term rental sites like Uniplaces can be massively useful.While the specialize in student accommodation rentals, they do also offer ample rental options for non-students – many of which could tick the bureaucratic box while also serving as a landing pad upon arrival in Portugal.While their rental stock is mostly urban – think Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra, which is where the lion’s share of students will be based in Portugal – these should all be sensible locations to consider.

   (Especially when you’re that fresh off the boat.)

   Moreover, they have a “Trusted Landlord” rating system – which can be very useful if you’re reticent about entering a rental agreement with someone you found “on the internet”.

   And as an added bonus, their app is intuitive, stable, and frequently updated with fresh listings.

   For more information and to view their latest rental listings, visit www.uniplaces.com – NOT www.uniplaces.pt.
   DISCLAIMER: The above content is presented purely as general information on the subject, and should not be construed to investment or immigration advice. Also, always be sure to check the exact visa requirements with your local embassy or consulate ahead of applying for a Portuguese visa or residency.

   Property purchases are a big decision, so be sure to do adequate due diligence and consult with licensed specialists before making any decisions.