In the 2nd quarter of 2024, the overall increase in housing prices in the EU, according to Eurostat, amounted to 2.9%.
The cost of apartments and houses throughout the European Union continues to grow, with several Eastern European countries leading the way.
The five countries with the highest annual growth in house prices are Poland (+17.7%), Bulgaria (+15.1%), Lithuania (+10.4%), Croatia (+10.0%) and Hungary (+9.8%).
Real estate fell in price in the year to the 2nd quarter of 2024: in Luxembourg (-8.3%), Finland (-4.8%), France (-4.6%) and Germany (-2.6%).
The cost of rent increased by 3% over the year across the EU as a whole. However, while rents have been rising slowly and steadily over the past decade and a half, the cost of buying a home has increased by more than 50% since 2014.
The rise in the cost of housing in Poland is due to both high demand and the influx of foreigners.
"House prices in Poland have more than doubled since 2013," Marcin Kreglewski, a real estate specialist at Warsaw law firm Dudkowiak Kopeć& Putyra, told Euronews, explaining that wages in the country's business sector have increased during this time more than twice.
Another factor is the continued high demand for apartments or single-family homes... In addition, there has been a significant influx of foreigners in Poland in recent years. Currently, the number of those who work here legally exceeds 1.1 million."There has also been a significant increase in construction costs, by 90% between 2016 and 2023. This is largely due to rising labor costs and energy prices, the availability of building materials, and supply chain disruption...».
In addition, the availability of land for housing projects is decreasing, especially in the largest megacities... ».Source: Euronews
