Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

House prices in the European Union rose by 5.7% during the first quarter of this year, while rents rose by 3.2%, compared to the same quarter last year.
Compared to the last quarter of 2024, house prices rose by 1.4% and rents by 0.9%.
This information is derived from house price and rent data published today by the European Statistical Office in Brussels, Eurostat.
Between 2010 and the first quarter of 2025, house prices in the European Union rose by 57.9% and rents by 27.8%. While rents have risen steadily, housing prices have followed a more volatile pattern, showing a dramatic increase between the first quarter of 2015 and the third quarter of 2022, followed by a slight decline and stabilization, before rising again since 2024.
Comparing the first quarter of 2025 to 2010, house prices Housing prices outstripped rents in 21 of the 26 EU countries for which data is available. Over the same period, house prices more than tripled in Hungary (+260%) and Estonia (+238%), and doubled or more than doubled in nine other EU countries: Lithuania (+194%), Latvia (+154%), the Czech Republic (+147%), Portugal (+130%), Bulgaria (+125%), Austria (+113%), Luxembourg and Poland (both +102%), and Slovakia (+100%). Italy was the only country where house prices fell (-4%). ​​Over the same period, rents rose in 26 EU countries, with the highest increases recorded in Estonia (+220%), Lithuania (+184%), Hungary (+124%), and Ireland (+115%). Greece was the only country where prices fell. Rents (-11%).
In 2024, the number of housing transactions increased in 13 of the 17 EU countries for which data is available, compared to 2023. This is the first time since 2021 that a majority of reporting countries have reported annual sales growth.
The largest increases in the number of transactions were recorded in Luxembourg (+47.1%), Hungary (+34.7%), and the Netherlands (+16.7%). In contrast, Slovenia (-17.7%), France (-9.1%), and Ireland (-2.8%) recorded the largest declines. In the previous year, 13 of the 16 reporting countries recorded a decline compared to 2022. The largest declines in the number of transactions in 2023 were recorded in Luxembourg (-43.3%), Hungary (-31.4%), and Austria. (-27.6%). In contrast, increases were recorded in Cyprus (+31.0%), Poland (+6.7%), and Ireland (+0.6%).