In the fourth quarter of 2023, house prices, as measured by the House Price Index, fell by 1.1% in the euro area and rose by 0.2% in the EU compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the third quarter of 2023, house prices fell by 2.2% and 1.1% in the euro area and EU, respectively. These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Compared with the third quarter of 2023, house prices fell by 0.7% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Among the Member States for which data are available, eight showed an annual decrease in house prices in the fourth quarter of 2023, and eighteen showed an annual increase. The largest falls were registered in Luxembourg (-14.4%), Germany (-7.1%) and Finland (-4.4%), while the highest increases were recorded in Poland (+13.0%), Bulgaria (+10.1%) and Croatia (+9.5%).
Compared with the previous quarter, prices decreased in eleven Member States, were stable in one (Italy) and increased in fourteen Member States. The largest falls were registered in France (-2.7%), Latvia (-2.5%) as well as Denmark and Sweden (both -2.3%), while the highest increases were recorded in Poland (+4.8%), Croatia (+3.4%) and Ireland (+3.0%).
Notes for users
Country notes
Belgium: The HPI have been revised for between Q1 2005 and Q3 2023 due to changes in the weights for new and existing dwellings, aggregation procedure and hedonic method (see also country methodological note).
Netherlands: The HPI and weights have been revised between Q1 2015 and Q3 2023 due to the implementation of several changes aimed at aligning calculation of weights for new and existing dwellings with implementing regulation 2023/1470 and improving index compilation methodology (see also country methodological note).
Austria: The HPI and weights have been revised between Q1 2010 and Q3 2023 due to several improvements, which include, among other, data processing improvements, exclusion of prefabricated houses and inclusion of transaction prices as the basis for the calculation of the price index for newly built dwellings, refinements in the hedonic repricing method, and alignment of calculation of weights for new and existing dwellings with the implementing regulation 2023/1470 (see also country methodological note).
Revisions and timetable
Compared with €-indicators release of 10 January 2024, revisions for the euro area and the EU are highlighted in bold in the table below:
|
Revisions |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Q1 2023 |
Q2 2023 |
Q3 2023 |
||||
|
Quarterly changes |
Previous |
Current |
Previous |
Current |
Previous |
Current |
|
-0.8 |
-0.9 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
|
|
-0.7 |
-0.7 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
0.8 |
0.7 |
|
|
Annual changes |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
0.4 |
0.4 |
-1.5 |
-1.6 |
-2.1 |
-2.2 |
|
|
0.8 |
0.8 |
-0.9 |
-1.0 |
-1.0 |
-1.1 |
|
The next release with data (first quarter of 2024) is scheduled for 5 July 2024.
Methods and definitions
The House Price Index (HPI) measures the price changes of all residential properties purchased by households (flats, detached houses, terraced houses, etc.), both newly built and existing, independently of their final use and independently of their previous owners. The Member States’ HPIs are compiled by the National Statistical Institutes. The euro area and the EU aggregate HPIs are compiled by Eurostat. HPIs are computed as annually chained indices with weights being updated each year. The European HPI aggregates are currently calculated as weighted averages of the national HPIs using as weights the GDP at market prices (expressed in millions Purchasing Power Standards – PPS) of the countries concerned.
The figures are not seasonally adjusted.
Missing country data is estimated by Eurostat using data from non-harmonised sources. These estimates are not published but are used to calculate euro area and EU aggregates.
Geographical information
Euro area (EA20): Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
European Union (EU27): Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, house prices decreased by 0.3% while rents increased by 0.6% in the EU compared with the third quarter of 2023.
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2022, house prices in the EU increased by 0.2%, while rents increased by 3.0%.
This information comes from data on house prices and rents published by Eurostat today. This article presents findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on housing price statistics.
House prices and rents in the EU followed a similar pattern between 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, but are now evolving differently. While rents increased steadily since then up to the second quarter of 2023, house prices followed a different pattern, including decreases and more rapid increases.
Source datasets: prc_hpi_q and prc_hicp_midx
After a sharp decline between the second quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2013, house prices remained more or less stable between 2013 and 2014. A rapid rise followed in early 2015, and house prices increased faster than rents until the third quarter of 2022. Since the fourth quarter of 2022, house prices fell for two quarters in a row before rising again in the second and third quarters of 2023 and declining slightly in the fourth quarter of 2023.
House prices more than doubled in Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Czechia, Austria and Luxembourg since 2010
Between 2010 and the fourth quarter of 2023, house prices increased by 48% and rents by 23% in the EU.
Source datasets: prc_hpi_a, prc_hpi_q, prc_hicp_aind, prc_hicp_midx
When comparing the fourth quarter of 2023 with 2010, among the Member States for which data are available, house prices increased more than rents in 19 of the EU countries. House prices more than doubled in Estonia (+217%), Hungary (+185%), Lithuania (+162%), Latvia (+135%), Czechia (+123%), Austria (+111%), and Luxembourg (+102%). Decreases were observed in Italy (-8%) and Cyprus (-3%).
Rents increased in 26 EU countries with the highest rises in Estonia (+207%), Lithuania (+172%) and Ireland (+102%). The only decrease in rent prices was recorded in Greece (-19%).
In the third quarter of 2023, both house prices and rents in the EU increased by 0.8% compared with the second quarter of 2023.
Compared with the third quarter of 2022, house prices in the EU decreased by -1.0%, while rents increased by 3.0%.
This information comes from data on rents and house prices published by Eurostat today. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on housing price statistics.
House prices and rents in the EU followed a comparable increasing path between 2010 and the second quarter of 2011. After this quarter, house prices and rents evolved differently. While rents increased steadily throughout this period up to the second quarter of 2023, house prices fluctuated considerably.
Source datasets: prc_hpi_q and prc_hicp_midx
After a sharp decline between the second quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2013, house prices remained more or less stable between 2013 and 2014. A rapid rise followed in early 2015, and house prices increased faster than rents until the third quarter of 2022. Since the fourth quarter of 2022, house prices fell for two quarters in a row before rising again in the second and third quarter of 2023.
House prices more than doubled in Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Czechia, and Luxembourg
Between 2010 and the third quarter of 2023, house prices increased by 48% and rents by 22%.
When comparing the third quarter of 2023 with 2010, house prices increased more than rents in 18 out of the 27 EU countries.
Source datasets: prc_hpi_a, prc_hpi_q, tipsho20, prc_hicp_aind, prc_hicp_midx
Over this period, house prices more than tripled in Estonia (+210%) and more than doubled in Hungary (+185%), Lithuania (+158%), Latvia (+141%), Austria (+123%), Czechia (+122%) and Luxembourg (+107%). Decreases were observed in Greece (-14%, see methodological notes), Italy (-8%) and Cyprus (-2%).
Rents increased in 26 EU countries with the highest rises in Estonia (+218%), Lithuania (+170%) and Ireland (+100%). The only decrease in rent prices was recorded in Greece (-20%).