House prices across the European Union have pulled further ahead of household incomes over the past decade, according to new Eurostat figures. The EU’s house price-to-income ratio in 2025 was 6.8% higher than in 2015.
The change points to growing pressure on affordability for people hoping to buy a home. However, the figures vary widely between countries, and they do not show which countries have the most expensive homes in absolute terms.
Eurostat’s measure compares changes in house prices with changes in household income per person. The ratio rises when prices increase faster than income or fall more slowly. It falls when prices grow more slowly than income.
Portugal records the biggest rise
Portugal saw the largest increase in its house price-to-income ratio between 2015 and 2025, at 60.8%. The Netherlands followed at 34.3%, then Hungary at 26.5%, Czechia at 25.8% and Spain at 24.5%.
At the other end of the scale, Romania recorded the biggest fall, down 42.8%. Finland’s ratio fell by 25.2%, while Bulgaria’s dropped by 16.2%.
These changes compare house prices with income over time. They should not be read as a league table of home prices or as a direct comparison of how many years of income buyers need to purchase a property.
Cyprus remains below its long-term average
In Cyprus, the house price-to-income ratio stood at 91.61 in 2025, almost unchanged from 91.63 in 2024. That places it around 8% below its long-term average, suggesting that house prices have not moved as far ahead of incomes as they have in some other European markets.
The EU ratio edged above its long-term average
Eurostat also looks at a standardised version of the ratio, which compares each year’s figure with its long-term average. The indicator peaked above that average in 2007 and again in 2022.
After falling in 2023 and 2024, it edged back above the long-term average in 2025, by 0.03%. Eurostat uses this measure as one indicator of possible imbalances in the housing market.
For Cyprus property buyers, the EU-wide figures offer useful context, but they do not describe the local market on their own. The ratio measures the direction of house prices relative to income; it does not tell buyers what homes cost in Cyprus, what mortgage payments they face, or how much they spend on ongoing housing costs.
Eurostat notes that those questions require other measures, including mortgage financing costs and the share of household income spent on housing. The latest data therefore show a broad affordability trend across Europe, while leaving room for very different experiences between countries and households.
