Hungary <\/a>recorded the highest annual increase in house prices in the fourth quarter of 2025 with a rise of 21.2%, according to Eurostat.<\/p>\n\u201cHungary, the top performer, has pushed subsidised home ownership schemes in recent years, which have boosted demand alongside strong investor activity,\u201d Kate Everett-Allen, head of European residential research at Knight Frank, told Euronews Business.<\/p>\n
In the eurozone, Portugal and Croatia also saw sharp increases at 18.9% and 16.1% respectively. Spain followed with a 12.9% rise.<\/p>\n
Everett-Allen said strong international demand had been a key factor in all three countries.<\/p>\n
Lifestyle migration, second-home buyers and inward investment (including digital nomads, retirees and foreign buyers) remained robust even as domestic borrowing costs rose, particularly in coastal and urban markets.<\/p>\n
Polzler said the strongest price growth in Portugal, Croatia and Spain was concentrated in key urban and coastal areas where demand has been highest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Portugal, price growth has been driven by very limited supply, particularly in Lisbon, Porto and surrounding areas, but also by targeted government support measures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He explained that the introduction of a public guarantee scheme for young first-time buyers \u2014 allowing up to 100% mortgage financing with the state guaranteeing up to 15% of the property value \u2014 was a significant driver of demand.<\/p>\n
Story continues <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a clear seller\u2019s market, and limited supply combined with this policy has enabled sellers to maintain strong pricing power,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Polzler said cities such as Valencia and Madrid had outperformed national averages in Spain, supported by both domestic and international demand.<\/p>\n
Sustained foreign investment and the continued appeal of these markets have reinforced price growth.<\/p>\n
Kalmet also underlined that stronger price growth in these countries was mostly driven by their attractiveness as tourist destinations.<\/p>\n
International buyers, second-home demand and the expansion of short-term rentals have increased pressure on housing markets, particularly in coastal and urban areas.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
Slovakia (12.8%), Bulgaria (12.6%), Latvia (11%), Lithuania (10.8%) and Czechia (10.4%) also recorded strong house price growth exceeding 10%.<\/p>\n
Everett-Allen pointed out that Central and Eastern Europe, along with Iberia, have been standout performers over the past 12\u201318 months, broadly aligned with stronger GDP growth.<\/p>\n
“These markets are also benefiting from infrastructure investment and capital inflows, both lifestyle-driven and linked to longer-term economic prospects,” she said.<\/p>\n
Kalmet added that prices have tended to rise faster in Central and Eastern Europe, partly because incomes are catching up and housing started from a lower base.<\/p>\n
House price increases in Denmark (7.6%), Ireland (7%), Romania (6.7%), the Netherlands (6.2%), Malta (6.1%), Cyprus (6%), Slovenia (5.8%) and Norway (5.7%) were also above the EU average, although by a smaller margin.<\/p>\n
Finland was the only country among 29 European markets where house prices fell, with a 3.1% annual decline.<\/p>\n
Among the EU\u2019s \u2018Big Four\u2019 economies,<\/a> Spain stood out with a 12.9% increase. Italy recorded a 4.1% rise.<\/p>\nGermany saw a 3% increase in house prices, while France ranked third from the bottom across Europe, with just a 1% rise.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrance is still recovering from the sharp market correction in 2023 and 2024, when rising mortgage rates and inflation significantly impacted demand,\u201d Polzler said.<\/p>\n
“The market is stabilising, with only modest price movements and cautious buyer sentiment.”<\/p>\n
Everett-Allen said Germany\u2019s housing market had been more exposed to cheap debt, weak income growth and a rental system that allowed demand to retreat quickly, alongside high regulatory and entry costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"House prices in the EU rose by 5.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the same…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,227092,154932,3456,62278,227090,227089,227091,11546,140597],"class_list":{"0":"post-599199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-central-and-eastern-europe","12":"tag-euronews-business","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-house-prices","15":"tag-international-demand","16":"tag-michael-polzler","17":"tag-mikk-kalmet","18":"tag-portugal","19":"tag-price-growth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}