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%).