CEPI - European Association of Real Estate Professions

Eurostat published on 11 July information on recent house price developments in the EU Member States. In the first quarter of 2013 compared with the first quarter of 2012 house prices were down by 2.2% in the euro area and 1.4% in the EU as a whole.

The highest annual increases in the first quarter of 2013 were recorded in Estonia (+7.7%), Latvia (+7.2%), Luxembourg (+4.3%) and Sweden (+4.1%) and the largest falls in Spain (-12.8%), Hungary (-9.3%), Portugal (-7.3%) and the Netherlands (-7.2%). The highest quarterly increases in the first quarter of 2013 were recorded in Romania (+4.3%), Estonia (+3.1%), Latvia and Slovakia (both +2.3%), and the largest falls in Spain (-5.1%), Cyprus (-4.8%), Hungary (-3.3%) and Portugal (-3.2%).

The House Price Indices (HPIs) describe the price developments of all residential properties purchased by households (flats, detached houses, terraced houses etc.), both newly built and existing, independently of their final use and their previous owners. The euro area and the EU aggregate HPIs are compiled by Eurostat following a harmonised methodology.

More information is available at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat