Between 2010 and 2023, residential property prices in Europe increased by 48%. This growth was uneven across regions, with housing costs, including utility bills, rising significantly in some countries. According to Eurostat’s latest European Residential Property Market Report, Ireland topped the list of countries with the highest residential property costs. Including water, electricity and gas bills, residential property costs there were twice as high as the EU average in 2023. The second and third most expensive places were Luxembourg (86% above the EU average) and Denmark (80% above), respectively. While in some countries, such as Bulgaria and Poland, residential property costs remained significantly below the EU average, at -61% and -56%, respectively.
Since 2010, residential property values in Ireland have increased from 17% above the EU average to 101%. At the same time, nine EU countries, including Greece, Cyprus and Spain, have seen residential property values decline. Residential property values in Poland have remained unchanged.
Despite the housing crises that affected countries such as Ireland, Portugal and Spain, residential property prices in Europe fell slightly in 2023. The average residential property price in the EU decreased by 0.3% compared to the previous year. However, between 2010 and 2023, residential property in the EU increased in price by 48%, with the largest increases in Estonia (+209%), Hungary (+191%) and Lithuania (+154%).
Residential rental prices also continued to rise. Between 2010 and 2023, rents increased by 22%. While residential rents rose in most EU countries, rents remained stable in Greece. In Estonia, rents increased by 211%, in Lithuania by 169%, and in Ireland, they doubled during this period.
The average residential property expenditure in the EU countries was 19.7% of available income. The highest residential property expenditure was in Greece (35.2%), Luxembourg (27.6%) and Denmark (25.9%). In countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Germany, residential property expenditure is about a quarter of available income.
For those living at risk of poverty in the EU, the figure is even higher. On average, such families spend 38.2% of their income on housing costs. These figures highlight the growing problems of housing affordability for Europeans.
However, there has been an improvement in the proportion of people in arrears on mortgages, rent or utilities – this figure in the EU fell to 9.3% in 2023 from 12.4% in 2010.
In Romania, for example, more than 95% of the population owns their own home. In Slovakia, Croatia and Hungary, more than 90% of people own their homes. Renting is most common in Switzerland and Germany, where more than half of the population are renters.
According to Eurostat , Cypriots invested 8.6% of their GDP in real estate last year . In Italy, the figure was 7%, slightly higher than in Germany (6.9%) and France (6.4%). The lowest percentage was recorded in Poland (2.2% of GDP) and Greece (2.3%). The average investment in residential real estate in the EU in 2023 was 5.8% of GDP, or about one trillion euros.
The European housing market continues to change, and despite some downward price trends in 2023, overall housing and rent prices continue to rise. Price differences between countries continue to widen, with housing prices in some countries significantly above the EU average, while in others they remain below. All these changes have a direct impact on the lives of European citizens and require attention from authorities to ensure housing affordability and a stable housing market.
