The number of properties being sold in Lisbon’s historic city centre jumped by around 80% between 2008 and 2015, according to a survey by Portuguese housing magazine ‘Confidencial Imobiliário’.

The 2,199 transactions recorded last year were worth a combined €709m, against 443 deals in 2008 worth a combined €161m according to the data.

The figures are from an analysis of Lisbon’s 25 traditional neighbourhoods in the administrative parishes of Misericórdia, Santa Maria Maior and São Vicente, that includes information about sales of both buildings and parts of buildings.

The report said there has been strong growth in tourism in Portugal’s urban centres, with the growing popularity of ‘local lodging’ in private apartments rather than hotels contributing to the pace of investment in property.

In 2013, property sales stopped falling and began to climb. In that year there were 1,340 transactions in the city centre, worth a combined €291m.

Last year the average price per square metre in the centre of Lisbon ranged between €3,500 and €4,000.

Portuguese investors are still most prominent in city centres, with the French being the largest overseas investors.