MADRID - On Thursday 8 July, the figures on the housing market in the European Union were released. These are the figures for the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2020. Eurostat (The statistical office of the EU) collects and processes the data of all national statistical offices from the EU countries in the House Price Index. (Check out the bottom of this article for our 25% discount offer for the handbook Living and buying in Spain)
In the first quarter of 2021, house prices rose by 5.8% in the euro area and by 6.1% in the European Union compared to the same quarter of the previous year 2020. This is the highest annual increase for the euro area since the fourth quarter of 2006 and for the EU since the third quarter of 2007. In the fourth quarter of 2020, house prices rose by 5.6% and 5.8% respectively.
Despite the corona crisis in the past 12 months, house prices continue to rise (fast). Spain showed a small increase of +0.9 percent while in the Netherlands it was +11.3 percent and in Belgium +6.7 percent. Of course, the figures below give a global picture and there are sometimes large regional differences, but the general trend is still positive.