Between 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, house prices and rents in the EU followed similar paths. Since the second quarter of 2011, they have followed very different paths: while rents increased steadily throughout the period up to the fourth quarter of 2020, house prices have fluctuated significantly, Eurostat data reveals.
After a sharp decline between the second quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2013, house prices remained more or less stable between 2013 and 2014. Then, there was a rapid rise in early 2015, since when house prices have increased at a much faster pace than rents.
Over the period 2010 until the fourth quarter of 2020, rents increased by 14.9% and house prices by 28.6%.
When comparing the fourth quarter of 2020 with 2010, house prices increased more than rents in 18 EU Member States. House prices increased in 23 Member States and decreased in four, with the highest rises in Estonia (+112.8%), Luxembourg (+99.8%), Hungary (+90.6%), Latvia (+85.6%) and Austria (+81.4%). Decreases were observed in Greece (-28.1%), Italy (-15.2%), Spain (-5.2%) and Cyprus (-3.4%).
For rents, the pattern was different. When comparing the fourth quarter of 2020 with 2010, prices increased in 25 EU Member States and decreased in two, with the highest rises in Estonia (+143.5%), Lithuania (+109.2%) and Ireland (+61.8%). Decreases were recorded in Greece (-25.2%) and Cyprus (-4.1%).
