In the first three months, house prices, as measured by the House Price Index, increased by 5.8% in the euro area, 6.1% in the EU but decreased by 5.8% in Cyprus compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eurostat.

It is the highest annual increase for the euro area since Q4 2006 and since Q3 2007 for the EU.

In Q4 2020, house prices rose by 5.6%, 5.8% and 2.4%, respectively.

Compared with Q4 2020, house prices rose by 1.3% in the euro area, 1.7% in the EU, decreased in Cyprus by 5.8% Q1 2021.

Among the Member States for which data are available, the highest annual increases in house prices in Q1 were recorded in Luxembourg (+17.0%), Denmark (+15.3%), Lithuania (+12.0%), Czech Republic (+11.9%) and the Netherlands (+11.3%).

Cyprus (-5.8%) was the only place where house prices fell in the first three months to March.

Compared with the previous quarter, the highest increases were in Estonia (+6.6%), Denmark (+5.8%) and Lithuania (+5.0%), while decreases were observed only in Cyprus (-5.8%), Malta (-1.6%) and Slovakia (-1.2%).

For Q1 2021, the HPI amounts to 102.82 units; compared to Q4 and Q1 2020, the HPI decreased by 5.8%.

It is the biggest decrease yearly since the first quarter of 2014.

HPI is a quarterly index that measures the change in the average prices of residential dwellings. It captures all types of residential properties, the land component of the property is included.

Source: Financial Mirror