Housing prices in the EU have gone up by 42% in the last decade

Prices have more than doubled in Estonia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Latvia, Czechia, Austria and Lithuania

Housing prices in the European Union for both renting and buying have been going up across the board since 2010, according to a recent publication by Eurostat. The data shows that from 2010 to 2021, average rent prices have gone up by 16%, while house prices have gone up by a whopping 42%.

Out of the EU’s 23 countries, Estonia has by far seen the biggest increase in prices, with rent going up by 171% and house prices going up by 156%. The majority of Member States saw a significant price rise over the period, with the exception of Italy, Cyprus and Greece, where prices actually dropped.

The dip and the climb

While house prices between 2011 and 2015 dipped below 2010 levels, they have shown a sustained and steep climb over the last six years. The highest rises were in Estonia (+156%), Hungary (+128%) and Luxembourg (+124%).

At the same time, the sharpest overall climb in house prices happened in the middle of the Covid-pandemic in 2021, when they jumped by around 10%. According to Eurostat, in Estonia, they went up by 20% compared to 2020 levels. In Hungary, that number is 19.5%.

Luxembourg, on the other hand, has had astonishingly high housing prices for years. While the 12% increase does not seem as sharp, compared to other countries, it only piles on an existing acute housing shortage that has started to spill over into neighbouring Belgium. 

On the other hand, house prices have decreased in Greece (-23%), Italy (-12%) and Cyprus (-9%). In 2021, Cyprus saw a 5% decrease, while in Italy they rose by 4% compared to 2020 levels.

\Housing prices in the EU, Source: Eurostat

Rents are always going up

According to the data, rent prices in the EU are always going up, regardless of trends within the housing market. At the same time, researchers also say that pre-2011, house prices and rent prices followed a similar trend, however, after the dip in the first half of the last decade, they seem to go their own way.

Overall, rent prices have gone up by 16%, with growth not slowing down even the 2011-2015 period. The only countries that did not register a rent increase were Cyprus and Greece. At the same time, the highest rises happened in Estonia (+171%), Lithuania (+113%) and Ireland (+74%).

Ireland has had an ongoing affordable housing crisis for the past decade, which prompted the government to launch the Housing for All plan, aiming to deliver 90,000 social homes and 54,000 affordable homes by 2030.

Housing prices by country, Source: Eurostat