House prices are up in most EU countries, according to new data from Eurostat. In the second quarter of 2020 house prices rose by 5.2% in the EU compared to the same period of 2019. In the Czech Republic, prices are up by 7.7%, an annual increase above the European average. Photo: TMA / Brno Daily.
Czech Rep. Oct 25 (BD) – New statistics released by Eurostat on October 7th show an increase in house prices in most EU member states: in April, May and June 2020, prices rose by 5.2% compared with the same period of the previous year. House prices in the Eurozone registered a slightly smaller annual rise of 5.0%. These numbers are taken from an assessment of price changes across all residential properties purchased in a given quarter (House Price Index).
In the Czech Republic, house prices went up by 7.7%, higher than the EU average. Neighbouring countries saw similar shifts, all of them also registering values above the EU average. Slovakia saw house prices up by 9.7%, while Germany exhibited a 6.6% rise, closely followed by Austria with 6.9%. Of the Czech Republic’s four neighbours, Poland registered the highest inflation, with prices up by 10.9% year-on-year.
Across the entire EU, the highest annual increases in house prices in the second quarter of 2020 were recorded in Luxembourg (+13.3%), Poland and Slovakia. Prices fell in Cyprus (-2.9%), and possibly also in Hungary, where Eurostat released only a provisional estimate of -5.6%.
| Member State | Annual increases in house prices in the second quarter of 2020 (%) |
| Luxembourg | 13.3 |
| Poland | 10.9 |
| Slovakia | 9.7 |
| Croatia | 8.3 |
| Portugal | 7.8 |
| Czech Republic | 7.7 |
Set against the first months of 2020, April, May and June recorded a rise of 1.7% in the Euro area and 1.5% in the EU. As we all no doubt remember, the second quarter of 2020 was marked by COVID-19 containment measures in most member states.
