In the last quarter of last year, housing prices, as measured by the Housing Price Index, fell by 1.1% in the eurozone and by 0.2% in the European Union compared to the same quarter a year earlier, according to data released this week by Eurostat. Compared to the third quarter of 2023, house prices fell by 0.7% in the eurozone and 0.3% in the EU in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Among the 20 countries that use the euro, Portugal remains at the top of the highest house price increases. Portugal recorded the fifth highest increase in the 4th quarter of 2023, with an increase of 7.8% year-on-year.
Among the Member States for which data is available, eight recorded a year-on-year fall in house prices in the quarter under review, but two recorded a rise.
The first quarter of 2023 saw a rise in house prices.
The sharpest decreases occurred in Luxembourg (-14.4%), Germany (-7.1%) and Finland (-4.4%), while the biggest increases were seen in Poland (13%), Bulgaria (10.1%) and Croatia (9.5%).
Compared to the previous quarter, prices fell in eleven Member States, remained stable in one (Italy) and rose in fourteen Member States.
The biggest falls were recorded in France (-2.7%), Latvia (-2.5%), as well as Denmark and Sweden (both -2.3%), while the biggest increases were recorded in Poland (+4.8%), Croatia (+3.4%) and Ireland (+3.0%).