Portugal posts EU’s biggest house price rise in Q2

Portugal recorded the biggest annual increase in house prices in the European Union in the second quarter, with values rising 16.5% from a year earlier, according to Eurostat.

Bulgaria followed with a 15.5% annual increase and Lithuania with 14.3%, while the sharpest declines were recorded in Finland, down 2.7%, Luxembourg, down 2.2%, and France, down 0.8%. Across the euro area, house prices rose 4% year on year in the quarter, while the increase for the EU as a whole was 4.7%.

Compared with the previous quarter, house prices fell in two member states and rose in 24. The largest quarterly drops were in Hungary, down 1.4%, and France, down 0.8%, while the biggest increases were in Lithuania, up 5%, Bulgaria, up 4.5%, and Romania, up 4.4%. Eurostat said the house price index rose 1.1% quarter on quarter in the euro area and 1.2% in the EU.

Europe’s rental market also saw increases in the second quarter. Rents rose 3% year on year across the EU and 0.7% from the first quarter. Eurostat said that between 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, house prices in the EU increased 4.1% and rents 2.6%.

When the second quarter of 2026 is compared with the 2025 annual average, house prices rose faster than rents in the 18 EU countries for which data is available. Portugal posted the second-largest increase on that measure, behind Bulgaria’s 14.3%, while Finland and France were the only countries to record declines.

Originally published at Eco.pt