Despite a significant increase in the price of buying and renting property in Cyprus in recent years, the island state is one of the countries with the lowest housing costs in the EU.
This was reported by Eurostat on Monday 14th October.
According to the agency, rents rose in 26 EU countries between 2009 and the second quarter of 2024, with the highest increases recorded in Estonia (+203%), Lithuania (+178%), Ireland (+106%) and Hungary (+104%). The only EU country where rents fell was Greece (-18%).
In Cyprus, rents increased by only 9.02% over the period. At the same time, rents increased by 24.83% on average in the EU and by 22.95% in the euro area.
The list of countries with significant rental price growth in the EU also included Austria (+69.26%), Belgium (+33.7%), the Czech Republic (+54.43%), Germany (+22.92%), Denmark (+28.56%), Spain (+10.22%), Finland (37.05%), France (+13.86%), Italy (+13.34%), Poland (+82.09%), Portugal (+41.97%), (Slovenia +66.99%), Slovakia (+22.42%).
Conversely, between 2009 and the second quarter of 2024, the cost of buying a house increased more than rents in 20 EU countries. The top performers on this indicator were Estonia (+232%), Hungary (+218%), Lithuania (+178%), Latvia (+146%), the Czech Republic (+131%), Austria (+131%), Portugal (+106%), Luxembourg (+103%) and Bulgaria (+102%).
Interestingly, house prices in Cyprus remained virtually unchanged over the period, while in Italy they fell. The average price of a dwelling increased by 51.8% in the EU and by 43.5% in the euro area. Between 2009 and the second quarter of 2024, the cost of buying a house rose most in Austria (+111.4%), Belgium (+51.9%), Germany (+74.1%), Denmark (+55.3%), Spain (+17.9%), Finland (+9%), France (+26%), Malta (+78.9%), Slovenia (+68.7%) and Slovakia (+84.1%).
In the EU, rents rose by an average of 24.83% and house purchase prices by 51.8%.
On an annual basis, in the second quarter of 2024, EU rents increased by 3.0% and house purchase prices by 2.9%. Compared with the first quarter of 2024, rents in the EU increased by 0.7% and house prices by 1.9%.
Eurostat noted that between 2009 and the second quarter of 2011, house purchase prices and rents in the EU followed a similar growth path. After that quarter, house prices and rents followed different paths. While rents rose steadily throughout this period until the second quarter of 2023, house prices fluctuated considerably. At the same time, the cost of buying a property in the EU increased by at least a factor of 2 between 2009 and the second quarter of 2024.