Data extracted on 9 January 2026
Planned article update: 9 April 2026
Highlights
In the third quarter of 2025, owner-occupied housing prices in the EU increased by 3.5% compared with the same quarter of 2024.
In the third quarter of 2025, insurance connected with dwellings had the highest annual rate of change among all components of the owner-occupied housing price index for the EU (up 10.2%).
This article describes the owner occupied housing price index (OOHPI) in the European Union (EU) and the euro area, presenting data on this indicator both at European and EU country level.
The OOHPI measures changes in prices paid by households for the acquisition of dwellings (flats, houses) that are new to the household sector (mainly newly built dwellings) and changes in other costs related to the ownership, and transfer of ownership, of dwellings. The classification system used separates the expenditures carried out for the initial acquisition of a dwelling from the expenditures incurred when an owner-occupied dwelling is in use (for more details see Table 2).
Index levels
Figure 1 shows the index levels (2015 = 100) for the OOHPI of the EU and euro area. Since the beginning of the time series in 2010, prices show a stable long-term trend of increase. After 2020, prices started to increase significantly faster than in earlier periods. Between Q4 2020 and Q3 2025, the OOHPI increased by 31.5% for the EU and by 29.1% for the euro area. In Q3 2025, prices as measured by the OOHPI were 52.9% higher in the EU and 48.8% higher in the euro area than in 2015.
Source: Eurostat (prc_hpi_ooq)
Annual and quarterly rates of change
Figure 2 presents the EU and euro area OOHPI annual rates of change from Q1 2011 to Q3 2025. Between 2011 and 2020, the annual rates of change were rather moderate, ranging from -0.3% to +3.8% for the EU and from -0.4% to +3.5% for the euro area. Starting in Q1 2021, the annual rates of change began to increase exceptionally quickly, reaching a historical high in Q2 2022 (+11.1% for the EU and +10.1% for the euro area). The annual rates of change began to decrease steadily from Q3 2022 onwards, reaching +3.3% for the EU and +2.8% for the euro area in Q1 2024, a return to values last observed in the early 2021. In Q3 2025, the annual rate of change was +3.5% for the EU and +3.6% for the euro area.
Source: Eurostat (prc_hpi_ooq)
Table 1 presents the quarterly and annual rates of change for the OOHPI for the most recent 4 quarters. Of the 26 EU countries with available data, 25 showed an increase in owner-occupied housing prices in Q3 2025, while 1 EU country recorded a decrease. The highest increases were recorded in Bulgaria (+11.1%), Croatia (+10.6%), Lithuania (+9.9%) and Spain (+9.4%), while the decrease was recorded in Sweden (-4.2%).
Compared with the previous quarter, prices increased in 23 EU countries and decreased in 3 EU countries. The highest increases were recorded in Croatia (+4.4%), Portugal (+2.6%) and Lithuania (+2.4%), as well as Latvia and Romania (both with 2.2%). At the same time, decreasing prices were registered in Luxembourg (-1.0%), Slovenia (-0.6%) and Sweden (-0.2%).
Source: Eurostat (prc_hpi_ooq)
Table 2 presents the quarterly and annual rates of change for the EU OOHPI and its expenditure components for the most recent 4 quarters. Looking at the subcomponents of the acquisition of dwellings, the highest annual rate of change was in the existing dwellings new to the households (+8.8%) while the lowest was in the self-build dwellings and major renovations (+2.1%). In the case of ownership of dwellings, the highest annual rate of change was in the insurance connected with dwellings (+10.2%) and the lowest in the major repairs and maintenance (+2.2%).
Source: Eurostat (prc_hpi_ooq)
Weights for the calculation of OOHPI
Item weights
The national OOHPIs are calculated on the basis of the price changes and item weights of the owner-occupiers’ housing expenditure categories. The weights of the OOHPI sub-indices are derived from the expenditure of households on any category covered by the OOHPI, expressed as a proportion of the total expenditure on all categories within the coverage of the OOHPI.
Figure 3 illustrates the 2025 item weights for the OOHPI categories for European aggregates and all countries providing OOHPI data. There is a variety per country in the weights over the categories: self-build dwellings and major renovations has the highest weight in 12 countries (varying from 31% for Latvia up to 76% for Slovenia). Purchases of newly built dwellings has the highest weight in 10 countries (varying from 41% in Portugal to 75% in Bulgaria). There are 4 countries with their highest weight in major repairs and maintenance, varying from 32% in the Netherlands to 50% in Hungary.
Source: Eurostat (prc_hpi_ooinw)
Table 3 lists the household expenditure categories included in the OOHPI, along with the respective weights used in the EU and euro area aggregates for 2025. In both European aggregates, the category 'self-build dwellings and major renovations' has the highest weight, accounting for 43.1% and 43.9% of the total OOH expenditure respectively. Conversely, the category 'existing dwellings new to households' has the lowest weight amounting to 0.6% for both the EU and the euro area. The very low weight of the category 'existing dwellings new to households' results from the fact that it relates to household purchases of existing dwellings for their own use, from the non-household sector. Examples of situations that could be covered by this category include a dwelling which was previously owned by a government institution and used as social housing or a dwelling previously belonging to the rental market. Transactions relating to existing dwellings previously own-occupied by households are not covered. This is because the index is based on the 'net' principle, whereby purchases are recorded as positive expenditures and sales as negative expenditures. As a result, transactions within the reference population, i.e. between households, cancel each other out.
Country weights
The OOHPIs for the EU and euro area aggregates are calculated as weighted averages of the national OOHPIs, using the weights of the countries concerned. The weight of a country is based on the share of a given country's owner-occupiers' housing expenditure in total expenditure.
Figure 4 shows the country weights used in 2025 for the calculation of the total OOHPI for the EU aggregate.
Figure 5 shows the country weights used in 2025 for the calculation of the total OOHPI for the euro area aggregate.
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
The OOHPI is a price index based on the net acquisitions approach, which measures changes in prices faced by owner-occupiers, i.e. households that live in a dwelling that they own. Both owner-occupiers' costs related to acquisition of dwellings and costs related to ownership of dwellings are covered.
The data sources used vary depending on the OOHPI category. Some categories are typically based on statistics developed primarily for other purposes.
The OOHPI categories 'purchases of newly built dwellings' and 'existing dwellings new to households' show conceptual similarities to the house price index (HPI) categories 'purchases of newly built dwellings' and 'purchases of existing dwellings'. The differences between the OOHPI and the HPI categories are as follows:
- dwelling purchases by households for uses other than owner-occupancy (e.g. for rent) are included in the HPI but excluded from the OOHPI;
- existing dwellings transacted between households are included in the HPI but excluded from the OOHPI. This is related to the application of the 'net' principle in the case of the OOHPI. For this reason, the weight of the OOHPI category 'existing dwellings new to households' is very low or even zero in many countries. In the case of the HPI, the weight of 'purchases of existing dwellings' is not only very different from zero but also tends to be higher than the weight for 'purchases of newly built dwellings' (the other component of the HPI);
- in the case of the HPI, the land value is included in both weights and prices while in the case of the OOHPI, the land value is excluded from weights but included in prices. Land is excluded from the weights because it is not gross fixed capital formation. It is not excluded from the prices because of the lack of data on land prices.
Despite the differences, in practice the HPI sub-indices are often used as a proxy for the corresponding OOHPI categories. If already available HPIs are not used, then the same data sources and similar calculation methods as those of the HPI are usually applied.
Another OOHPI category that is often based on already available statistics is the category 'self-build dwellings and major renovations'. In this case, the short-term business statistics for construction (e.g. construction producer price index) may be used.
Figure 6 shows the annual rates of change of the OOHPI for the EU, compared with those of the HPI and the construction producer price index. As the OOHPI is driven largely by price development of the category 'self-build dwelling and major renovation', the annual rates of change for the OOHPI and the construction producer price index follow a similar pattern.
Source: Eurostat (prc_hpi_ooq); (prc_hpi_q); (sts_copi_q)
Price indices for the categories 'other services related to the acquisition of dwellings', 'major repairs and maintenance', 'insurance connected with dwellings' and 'other services related to ownership of dwellings' are usually compiled from observed prices that are collected specifically for that purpose. The applicable calculation procedures are similar to those used for compiling the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP).
National accounts data, complemented with information from other statistical sources, are usually used when deriving the OOHPI weights. Data on gross fixed capital formation is used for categories belonging to 'Acquisition of dwellings' and data on intermediate consumption is used for categories belonging to 'Ownership of dwellings'.
Context
Requirements for the compilation of the OOHPI are established with the European Parliament and Council Regulation (EU) 2016/792 and the Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1470 of 17 July 2023.
The OOHPI was developed in connection with the discussion on the measurement of owner-occupied housing in the context of the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP). As a stand-alone indicator, it measures the cost of owner-occupiers based on the net acquisitions approach.
In 2018, the European Commission published the report on the suitability of the OOH price index for integration into the HICP coverage in which it was assessed that the OOHPI was not suitable for integration into the coverage of the HICP.
In 2021, the European Central Bank (ECB) reviewed its monetary policy strategy and recognised that the inclusion of the costs related to owner-occupied housing in the HICP would be important to better represent inflation. Following the findings from this review, the ECB Governing Council recommended the net acquisitions approach for the inclusion of OOH-related costs in the HICP.
In 2023, Eurostat published the report on owner-occupied housing and the harmonised index of consumer prices, as a response to the ECB's recommendations.
In 2025, during the ECB monetary policy strategy assessment, the ECB Governing Council reiterated its view that the inclusion of the costs related to OOH in the HICP would better represent the inflation rate that is relevant for households. Therefore, in its monetary policy assessments, the ECB Governing Council takes into account inflation measures that include estimates of the cost of owner-occupied housing as helpful cross-checks in its wider set of supplementary inflation indicators. On 16th December 2025, the European Commission presented the European Affordable Housing Plan. Action 8 of the plan provides for driving forward Member States’ structural reforms. The Commission will support Member States’ efforts through a variety of tools among which is fostering European statistics related to housing to further strengthen evidence-based and data-driven policymaking in view of better allocation of resources for housing and establishing an EU-level access point for housing data and analysis.
Explore further
Other articles
Database
- Housing price statistics (prc_hpi)
- Short-term business statistics (sts_cons)
- Housing price statistics (t_prc_hps)
Thematic section
Publications
Methodology
- Technical manual on owner-occupied housing and house price indices, 2017
- Owner occupied housing price index (ESMS metadata file — prc_hpi_oo_esms)
- House price and sales index (ESMS metadata file — prc_hpi_inx_esms)
- Short-term business statistics (ESMS metadata file — sts_esms)