For the euro area, this is the highest annual increase since Q4 2006. In Q3 2020, house prices rose by 4.9% and 5.3%, respectively.

According to Eurostat figures, Cyprus had the biggest quarter on quarter growth in prices in the EU.

Compared with Q3 2020, house prices rose by 1.4% in the euro area,1.3% in the EU and 4.7% in Cyprus.

The highest annual increases in house prices were recorded in Luxembourg (+16.7%), Denmark (+9.8%) and Lithuania (+9.4%).

Compared with the previous quarter, the highest increases were recorded in Cyprus and Luxembourg (+4.7% each), Lithuania (+3.9%) and Estonia (+3.8%), while decreases were observed only in Spain (-0.8%) and Hungary (-0.7%).

Between 2010 and Q2 2011, house prices and rents in the EU followed similar paths.

Since then, they have followed very different paths: while rents increased steadily up to Q4 2020, house prices have fluctuated significantly.

After a sharp decline between Q2 2011 and Q1 2013, house prices remained more or less stable between 2013 and 2014.

There was a rapid rise in early 2015. From then onwards, house prices have increased at a much faster pace than rents.

Since 2010 rents increased by 14.9% and house prices by 28.6%.

When comparing Q4 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 Q4 2020 with 2010, rents increased in 25 EU 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%).

Source: Financial Mirror