It seems to be a licence to print money hence the ever increasing number of agents with ever bigger/shinier offices

Lagos is only about 40 minutes further drive from Lisbon or Faro airport than Albufeira. I would argue that Lagos is rapidly losing its cultural authenticity because of the growing number of hotels, holiday homes and Airnbnb type lettings.

As has been said, there is plenty of money around. French buyers have been numerous this past few years, before that it was Russians. Albufeira isvery popular with English speaking people. Other towns like Faro and Portimão, which are not actually on the coast and don't have so many 'foreigners' in residence, would be less expensive for those very reasons.

There are plenty of estate agents websites (they often use the American English words 'real estate') where you can get an idea of current prices. One thing that does not usually happen here is haggling. The price is usually fixed and often as not the seller won't accept a penny less.

I often see this company's signs around town - https://www.cerronovo.com/ and these www.era.pt

I'm not very familiar with many other Algarve towns but, a while back, I read that Lagos' popularity has grown due to fewer crowds and its cultural authenticity??  But, given its distance from the main Lisbon/Albufeira highway (forget which hwy it is now), I would have thought Albufeira would be the more popular choice??  Has Albufeira become overpriced?

We can all look back and use hindsight to see what did/didnt work for them but the fact remains if you wait for everything to be perfect it will be too late and the market will have moved on without you