EU house prices and rents reach record highs
Since 2010, housing prices in the European Union have risen by 52% and rents by 25%. While in some countries property prices have tripled, Spain is among the nations with the lowest increases.
According to Eurostat, the indices reflecting purchase and rental prices have reached their highest level in the historical series in September. The house price index rose from 100 points in 2010 to 152.1 in 2024, while the rental index rose from 80 to 116.2 in the same period. This increase has occurred mainly in the wake of the economic crisis, with notable variations between EU countries.
From 2010 to 2011, purchase and rental prices followed similar trends, but since then their evolution has been different. While rents have grown steadily, house prices have experienced periods of falls and sharp rises. In 20 of the 27 EU countries, house prices have risen faster than rents.
The impact of the pandemic marked a turning point. From 2020, annual price growth reached levels not seen since 2006. Although there were occasional drops in 2023, the upward trend accelerated in 2024, with rises of 2.9% in the second quarter of the year.
In some countries, housing prices have skyrocketed. Estonia and Hungary have seen increases of more than 200%, while Lithuania, Latvia, Austria and Portugal have recorded increases of between 100% and 200%. In contrast, Spain has recorded an increase of 16.4%, well below the European average, being the second lowest in the region.
As for rents, they have risen by 25% across the EU since 2010. Estonia leads with a 216% increase, followed by Lithuania (+182%) and Ireland (+106%). Spain, meanwhile, shows the lowest increase (10.6%), along with Cyprus. These data contrast with the more moderate increases in countries such as Italy and France (+14%) or the highest in Portugal (+42%) and Germany (+23%).
The evolution of prices in the EU reflects the inequality between real estate markets, marked by local and global factors, such as the pandemic, which have transformed the dynamics of buying and selling and renting on the continent.