House prices in Portugal register the second largest increase of the Euro Area

  • ECO News
  • 11 April 2018

House prices in the Euro Area and the European Union increased 4.2 and 4.5%, respectively, in the last quarter of 2017. Portugal had the second largest annual increase (10.5%) of the Euro Area.

House prices in the Euro Area increased 4.2% in the last quarter of 2017, according to data published this Wednesday by Eurostat. As for the European Union, the increase was greater: it ascended to 4.5%. Portugal was the second Member State of the Euro Area with the largest annual increase, with prices rising by 10.5%, only behind Ireland, which had 11.8% increases.

These amounts were determined using the House Price Index, which revealed a 4.2% increase in the Euro Area and 4.5% in the European Union in the last quarter of last year, in comparison to the homologous period. In comparison to the previous quarter, prices increased 0.9% in the Euro Area and 0.7% in the European Union.

Annual rate of change for the Euro Area and the EU house prices

Source: Eurostat

As for the annual evolution of each Member State, Ireland registered the largest increase in the Euro Area in 2017, with prices growing 11.8%. Behind Ireland stands Portugal, the second largest increase, with housing values growing 10.5%. In Italy, house prices had the largest fall of the year (0.3%).

In comparison to the previous quarter, the largest increases were registered in Slovenia (3.7%), in Croatia (3.2%) and Cyprus (2.7%). On the other hand, the largest decreases in prices took place in Sweden (2.8%), in Denmark (1.7%), Belgium (0.4%) and Finland (0.3%). In Portugal, the indicator grew 1.2% from the third to the fourth quarter of 2017.