Cyprus house prices down an annual 1.4% in 3Q 2020

In the third quarter of 2020, house prices, as measured by the House Price Index, rose by 4.9% in the euro area and by 5.2% in the EU compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the second quarter of 2020 house prices rose by the same annual rates, 4.9% and 5.2% respectively.

These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Compared with the second quarter of 2020, house prices rose by 1.3% in the euro area and 1.4% in the EU in the third quarter of 2020.

Among the Member States for which data are available, the highest annual increases in house prices in the third quarter of 2020 were recorded in Luxembourg (+13.6%), Poland (+10.9%) and Austria (+8.9%)

Prices fell in Cyprus (-1.4%) and Ireland (-0.8%).

Compared with the previous quarter, the highest increases were recorded in Hungary (+5.2%), Denmark (+4.2%) and Latvia (+3.7%).

Decreases were observed in Cyprus (-4.8%), Romania (-2.6%), Italy (-2.5%) and Croatia (-0.6%).

According to Eurostat, between 2010 and the third quarter of 2011, house prices and rents in the EU27 followed similar paths. Since the third quarter of 2011, they have followed very different paths: while rents increased steadily throughout the period up to the third quarter of 2020, house prices have fluctuated significantly.

After a sharp decline between the second quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2013, house prices remained more or less stable between 2013 and 2014. Then, there was a rapid rise in early 2015, since when house prices have increased at a much faster pace than rents.

Over the period 2010 until the third quarter of 2020, rents increased by 14.6% and house prices by 26.8%.

When comparing the third quarter of 2020 with 2010, house prices increased more than rents in 16 EU Member States. House prices increased in 23 Member States and decreased in four, with the highest rises in Estonia (+105.1%), Hungary (+92.2%), Luxembourg (+90.5%), Latvia (+83.6%) and Austria (+81.3%). Decreases were observed in Greece (-31.0%), Italy (-15.5%), Cyprus (-7.7%) and Spain (-4.5%).

For rents, the pattern was different. When comparing the third quarter of 2020 with 2010, prices increased in 25 EU Member States and decreased in two, with the highest rises in Estonia (+136.6%), Lithuania (+106.9%) and Ireland (+62.2%). Decreases were recorded in Greece (-25.2%) and Cyprus (-4.5%).