European property market: Where have housing costs soared the most?

Doloresz Katanich

Wed, May 14, 2025, 9:04 PM 5 min read

Higher gathering costs and owe rates, constricted proviso and the emergence successful location purchases arsenic an concern created eye-watering terms levels successful definite countries crossed the EU.

Hungary saw the biggest leap successful prices, with dwellings costing 3 times arsenic overmuch arsenic they did successful 2015. Nowadays, an flat successful the country's capital, Budapest, is priced successful the range, connected average, from €250,000 to €1.5 million.

Hungary is followed by Iceland, wherever prices are astir 2.5 times what they were successful 2015. In the superior region, successful Reykjavík and six municipalities astir it, dwellings are the astir costly, with mean acquisition prices of astir €558,000.

According to the Bank of Iceland, arsenic proviso has grown and request is softening, location prices are expanding astatine a slower pace, yet the year-on-year location terms ostentation was inactive 8% successful March.

Elsewhere successful Europe, determination was besides a sizeable emergence successful location prices implicit the past 9 years. Lithuania, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia and Poland each witnessed prices much than double.

Meanwhile, astatine the bottommost of the list, determination is Finland, wherever spot prices are not substantially higher than what they were astir 10 years ago. However, determination are large differences betwixt the outgo of dwellings successful the agrarian areas and successful Helsinki, for instance.

According to Global Property Guide’s caller report, the downturn successful the Finnish spot market, which started successful 2021 and saw prices illness by 14% annually, has apt bottomed out.

They expect the ongoing economical betterment to enactment a gradual summation successful location prices, chiefly recently built ones, arsenic the second-hand dwellings’ terms is expected to summation lone marginally by 1-3% this year. Second-hand flats person an mean terms of €4,612 per quadrate metre, driving the outgo of a 75 sqm 1 to €345,900, but successful Helsinki, this could beryllium much similar €4-500,000.

Eurostat has nary information for Greek location prices, but according to the Bank of Greece's Residential Property Index, prices are conscionable supra their 2008 level successful municipality areas.

Outside of the EU, successful Turkey, prices are 17 times what they were successful 2015. In Istanbul, a two–bedroom flat tends to outgo astir €120,000 nowadays. (It whitethorn look similar a bully woody compared to Western European prices, but user prices are astir up 38% year-on-year and mean gross salaries are somewhat supra €600 per month.)

Renting a location oregon flat besides became a batch much costly crossed Europe, adjacent though they accrued astatine a slower gait than prices.

According to Eurostat’s latest disposable data, rents accrued by 26.7% successful the EU, betwixt 2010 and Q4 2024.