Portuguese property developer VIC Properties calculates that prices for housing in Lisbon jumped by 21 percent last year, the Hong Kong Economic Times reports.

The financial newspaper quotes VIC Properties chief operations officer Luís Gamboa as saying consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers reckons Lisbon is the main draw in Europe for investors in real estate.

Mr Gamboa said economic growth in Portugal and the competitive prices of housing in Lisbon made property there more attractive to investors than property elsewhere in Europe.

Mr Gamboa thinks continuing economic growth, along with the prospect of a new airport serving Lisbon by 2022 and a 210-million-euro (US$234.66 million) expansion of the metropolitan railway network there will keep driving up housing prices in the city, the Chinese-language daily says.