Housing prices increased by 4.5% in the European Union (EU) as a whole during the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the latest data provided by the European statistical office, Eurostat. In the case of the euro area, housing prices grew by 4.2%.
The EU countries where the increase was highest were Ireland (+11.8%), Portugal (+10.5%), and Slovenia (+10%). In contrast, in Italy, they fell by 0.3%.
In Spain, housing prices increased by 7.2% in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the previous year. In fact, during the past year, the quarterly increase was progressively higher: 5.3% in the first quarter, 5.6% in the second, and 6.7% in the third, reaching 7.2% in the last three months of the year.
The following graphs allow comparing the evolution of housing prices during the past year in different European countries: