House prices, as measured by the House Price Index, increased by 4.2 per cent in both the European Union (EU) and the euro area in the fourth quarter of 2018, when compared to the same quarter a year earlier, new figures revealed.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, found that house prices rose by 0.7 per cent in Q4 2018 over Q3 2018 in the euro area and 0.6 per cent in the EU.

When breaking down house price growth by member states, the highest annual increases in house prices in the fourth quarter of 2018 were recorded in Slovenia at 18.2 per cent, Latvia at 11.8 per cent and Czechia at 9.9 per cent. However, prices in Italy declined by 0.6 per cent.

In the previous quarter, a similar trend was recorded. In Q3 2018, house prices were up in Slovenia, Latvia and Malta, by 6.5 per cent, 4.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively. A decrease in house prices was observed in Denmark (-1.7 per cent), Belgium (-0.5 per cent), the UK (-0.4 per cent), Sweden (-0.2 per cent), Italy (-0.2 per cent) and France (0.2 per cent).

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