Compared to the second quarter of 2021, in which house prices rose 6.8% in the Euro Zone and 7.3% in the 27 Member States as a whole, the increases were, respectively, 3.3% and 3.1% .

The lowest year-on-year increases were registered in Cyprus (+2.2%) and in Italy and Spain (+4.2% each), while the main increases were registered in the Czech Republic (+22.0%), Lithuania ( +18.9%), Estonia (+17.3%) and the Netherlands (+16.8%).

Luxembourg (+13.4%), Austria and Slovenia (+12.9% each), Latvia (+12.7%), Hungary (+12.6%) %), Germany (+12.0%), Sweden (+11.3%), Ireland (+10.6%) and Denmark (+10.3%).

In Portugal, the indicator increased 9.9% year-on-year and 3.6% in the chain change.

Rents up 16%

Along with house prices, rents also continued their steady rise in the period from July to September 2021, rising to 1.2% compared to the same period in 2020, according to the EU statistics office. Since 2010, the rises have been 16% for rents and 39% for house prices.

Observing the evolution of both prices from 2010 to the second quarter of 2011, housing prices and rents in the EU followed similar paths, but from the second quarter of 2011 onwards, prices began to diverge significantly: while rents have increasing steadily over time, home prices have fluctuated considerably.

Since 2010, compared to the third quarter of 2021, house prices have more than doubled in Estonia (+141%), Hungary (+118%), Luxembourg (+117%), Latvia (+106%) and Austria ( +104%). In that period, decreases were recorded only in Greece (-28%), Italy (-12%), Cyprus (-6%) and Spain (-0.5%).

As for rents, comparing the third quarter of 2021 with 2010, prices increased in 25 Member States and decreased in only two, with the highest increase also taking place in Estonia (+162%), followed by Lithuania (+ 111%) and Ireland (+68%). Greece and Cyprus were the only countries to record declines: -25% and -3% respectively.

In the same period, house prices increased more than rents in 18 EU countries, including Portugal, which, since 2010, has seen an increase in housing prices between 50 and 60% and rents between 20 and 30%.