Photo by Max Böttinger on Unsplash
Photo by Max Böttinger on Unsplash

In the second quarter of 2020, marked by several confinement measures and restrictions because of the pandemic in most Member States, house prices increased by 5% in the eurozone and 5.2% in the European Union (EU) compared to the same period last year. Portugal exceeded this figure and registered the fifth largest increase in house prices in the EU: homes in Portugal have become 7.8% more expensive.

Data released at the beginning of October 2020 by Eurostat show that the biggest year-on-year rises in house prices were seen in Luxembourg (13.3%), Poland (10.9%), Slovakia (9.7%) and Croatia (8.3%). On the other hand, Hungary (-5.6%) and Cyprus (-2.9%) saw decreases in house prices.

Compared to the first three months of the year, according to the European Statistics Office, the largest increases in house prices were recorded in Luxembourg (+4.4%), Italy (+3.1%) and Austria (+2.5%) while the biggest decreases were observed in Hungary (-7.4%), Estonia (-5.8%), Latvia (-2.3%), Bulgaria (-1.1%) and Ireland (-0.1%).