In 2020, the number of housing transactions decreased in several EU countries compared to 2019 despite a continued upwards trend in house prices. This drop in the number of transactions comes after an increase in nearly all of those countries in 2019 compared to 2018. Data on the number of housing transactions are available for 13 EU countries.
The largest decreases in the number of transactions in 2020 were recorded in Cyprus (-23.3%), Slovenia (-17.5%), Belgium (-17.4%) and Ireland (-16.4%). Three countries recorded an increase in the number of housing transactions: Finland (+7.7%), the Netherlands (+10.0%) and Denmark (+20.1%).
The drop in the number of transaction can be linked to COVID-19 lockdown measures, in particular in the second quarter of 2020, which included a temporary suspension of real estate activity.
Data source: prc_hpi_hsna
For more information:
- Detailed analysis of the changes on quarterly basis is available in the Statistics Explained article House sales statistics
- House sales statistics are provided by Member States on a voluntary basis.
- The data covers the transactions of new and existing dwellings (apartments and houses) where the buyer is a household.
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