With house prices rising every year, the increase is already 105.8% since 2015. Portugal is the fourth EU country with the highest increase in house prices.
It’s no news that the Portuguese have seen house prices rise in recent years, largely due to inflation, the granting of gold visas and the consequent arrival of foreign citizens with more purchasing power. Eurostat data now shows that housing prices in Portugal will skyrocket by 105.8% between 2015 and 2023.
Portugal was even the fourth country in the European statistical agency’s analysis where prices grew the most in the period under review. The survey shows that Hungary came first, with prices rising by 172.5%, Lithuania came second with an increase of 114.2%, and the Czech Republic came third, with prices rising by 111.7%.
Meanwhile, the European average has fallen far short of these increases of over 100%. According to Eurostat, the European average rose by 48.1% between 2015 and 2023, driven by these four countries, while others saw less marked rises.
“The main reasons contributing to the increase in prices are higher construction costs and mortgage rates, a reduction in construction (which has limited supply) and the increase in the purchase of real estate as an investment to generate additional income,” the European Parliament said in a note released in relation to the data.
Finland, on the other hand, was the country in the European Union that saw the lowest price rises in the period under review. Between 2015 and 2023, Finnish house prices rose by 5.4%, the lowest growth rate in the entire EU.
Just above Finland were Italy (8.3%), Cyprus (10.3%) and France (31.3%). Below the European average are Sweden (31.9%), Belgium (36.1%) and Denmark (37.1%).
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, revealed when she was re-elected for a new term that housing was one of the European bloc’s priorities and that, for the first time, the EU was going to have a commissioner responsible for housing, Dan Jørgensen.