In the third quarter of 2024, both house prices and rents in the EU showed increases compared to the same period in 2023. House prices rose by 3.8%, while rents saw a 3.2% increase.
Compared to the second quarter of 2024, house prices went up by 1.4% and rents by 0.9%. This data, released yesterday by Eurostat, summarizes key findings from their detailed Statistics Explained article on housing price statistics.
From 2010 to the second quarter of 2011, house prices and rents in the EU exhibited similar trends, but their trajectories diverged thereafter. Rents have shown a steady increase, whereas house prices have been more volatile, experiencing periods of decline followed by rapid growth.
Between 2010 and the third quarter of 2024, house prices in the EU climbed by 54.1%, while rents increased by 26%.
(Cyprus had the lowest increase in house prices between 2010 and the third quarter of 2024, compared to the rest of the EU member states.)
Analysing national data, house prices outpaced rents in 20 EU countries when comparing the third quarter of 2024 with 2010. Hungary and Estonia saw the most significant house price increases, more than tripling (+230%), followed by substantial increases in Lithuania (+181%), Latvia (+154%), Czechia (+135%), Austria (+114%), Portugal (+113%), Bulgaria (+110%), and Luxembourg (+103%). Italy was the sole country where house prices declined (-4%) during this period.
Meanwhile, rents increased across 26 EU countries during the same timeframe, with Estonia (+216%), Lithuania (+183%), Ireland (+109%), and Hungary (+108%) registering the highest rises. Greece was the only country where rent prices decreased (-16%) over this period.
