Bulgaria ranks second in the EU in terms of property price growth

In the third quarter of 2022, house prices in the European Union rose by 7.4 percent on annual basis, while in the eurozone they went up by 6.8 percent. This is what the residential price index show, the European statistical agency Eurostsat announced today.

Residential property prices increased in the second quarter of last year in the EU and the currency union, by 9.8 percent and 9.2 percent respectively.

Compared to the second quarter, residential property prices rose by 0.9 percent in the EU and by 1 percent in the euro zone in the third quarter.

In Bulgaria, housing prices jumped by 15.6 percent in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period a year earlier. This represents an acceleration in the growth of local housing prices compared to the previous second and first quarters, when the increase was 14.6 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively.

On a monthly basis in the third quarter of last year, house prices in our country rose by 4.1 percent, surpassing the 3.1 percent increase in the second quarter, but remaining below the increase of 5.2 percent in the first quarter.

In the third quarter of 2022, the monthly growth of residential property prices in Bulgaria was the second highest among the EU members, with a higher price index growth recorded only by Cyprus (+5.8 percent).

Among the EU members for which data is available, fifteen countries registered an annual increase in residential properties prices of more than 10 percent in the third quarter of 2022. The largest price growth was in Estonia (+24.2 percent ), Hungary (+21 percent) and Lithuania (+19.3 percent). The only country where residential property prices fell was Denmark (-2.4 percent).

Compared to the previous quarter, in the period July - September, residential property prices were higher in twenty EU member states. The biggest increase was registered in Cyprus (+5.8 percent), Bulgaria (+4.1 percent) and Austria (+4 percent). On the contrary, a drop in prices was observed in Denmark (-3.8 percent), Sweden (-3.1 percent), Finland (-1.3 percent), Romania (-1.2 percent), Italy (-1 percent) and Germany (-0.4 percent).

Over a 12-year period from 2010 to the third quarter of 2022, residential property prices in the EU rose by 49 percent. During the same period, residential property prices increased in 24 member states and decreased in three. Prices more than doubled in Estonia (+199 percent), Hungary (+174 percent), Luxembourg (+140 percent), Lithuania (+137 percent), Latvia (+134 percent), Czech Republic (+133 percent) and Austria (+130 percent). A decrease was noted by Greece (-22 percent), Italy (-9 percent) and Cyprus (-0.3 percent).

Rents in the European Union increased by 2.1 percent in the third quarter of 2022 on an annual basis. Compared to the third quarter of 2010, however, rents in the same period in 2022 have risen by 18 percent.

Relative to the third quarter of 2010, in the same quarter of 2022, rents increased in 26 EU countries, and decreased only in Greece (-24 percent). The biggest increase in rents was experienced in Estonia (+233 percent) and Lithuania (+151 percent).