House prices down, rents up between Q3 and Q4 2023

In the fourth quarter of 2023, house prices decreased by 0.3% while rents increased by 0.6% in the EU compared with the third quarter of 2023.

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2022, house prices in the EU increased by 0.2%, while rents increased by 3.0%. 

This information comes from data on house prices and rents published by Eurostat today. This article presents findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on housing price statistics.

House prices and rents in the EU followed a similar pattern between 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, but are now evolving differently. While rents increased steadily since then up to the second quarter of 2023, house prices followed a different pattern, including decreases and more rapid increases.

Source datasets: prc_hpi_q and prc_hicp_midx

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. A rapid rise followed in early 2015, and house prices increased faster than rents until the third quarter of 2022. Since the fourth quarter of 2022, house prices fell for two quarters in a row before rising again in the second and third quarters of 2023 and declining slightly in the fourth quarter of 2023.

House prices more than doubled in Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Czechia, Austria and Luxembourg since 2010

Between 2010 and the fourth quarter of 2023, house prices increased by 48% and rents by 23% in the EU. 

Source datasets: prc_hpi_a, prc_hpi_q, prc_hicp_aind, prc_hicp_midx

When comparing the fourth quarter of 2023 with 2010, among the Member States for which data are available, house prices increased more than rents in 19 of the EU countries. House prices more than doubled in Estonia (+217%), Hungary (+185%), Lithuania (+162%), Latvia (+135%), Czechia (+123%), Austria (+111%), and Luxembourg (+102%). Decreases were observed in Italy (-8%) and Cyprus (-3%). 

Rents increased in 26 EU countries with the highest rises in Estonia (+207%), Lithuania (+172%) and Ireland (+102%). The only decrease in rent prices was recorded in Greece (-19%).