Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1514336
10 NEWS 11.01.2024 IN the third quarter of 2023, house prices, as measured by the House Ptrice Index, fell by 2.1% in the euro area and by 1.0% in the EU compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the second quarter of 2023, house prices fell by 1.5% and 0.9% in the euro area and EU, respectively. ese figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Compared with the second quarter of 2023, house prices rose by 0.3% in the euro area and by 0.8% in the EU in the third quarter of 2023. House price developments in the EU Member States Among the Member States for which data are available, ten showed an annual decrease in house prices in the third quarter of 2023, and sixteen showed an annual increase. e larg- est falls were registered in Luxembourg (-13.6%), Germany (-10.2%), and Finland (-7.0%), while the highest increases were recorded in Croatia (+10.9%), Poland (+9.3%) and Bulgaria (+9.2%). Compared with the previous quar- ter, prices decreased in seven Mem- ber States, were stable in one (Italy) and increased in eighteen Member States. e largest falls were registered in Luxembourg (-6.3%), Finland (-2.7%) and Germany (-1.4%), while the high- est increases were recorded in Poland (+4.5%), Romania (+3.4%) and Den- mark (+3.1%). The House Price Index e House Price Index (HPI) meas- ures the price changes of all residen- tial properties purchased by house- holds (flats, detached houses, terraced houses, etc.), both newly built and ex- isting, independently of their final use and independently of their previous owners. e Member States' HPIs are com- piled by the National Statistical In- stitutes. e euro area and the EU aggregate HPIs are compiled by Eu- rostat. HPIs are computed as annually chained indices with weights being updated each year. e European HPI aggregates are currently calculated as weighted av- erages of the national HPIs using as weights the GDP at market prices (ex- pressed in millions Purchasing Power Standards - PPS) of the countries con- cerned. e figures are not seasonally adjust- ed. Geographical information Euro area (EA20): Belgium, Germa- ny, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slove- nia, Slovakia and Finland. European Union (EU27): Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germa- ny, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Po- land, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden. House prices down by 2.1% in the euro area Quarterly and annual changes in house prices Change compared with the previous quarter, % Change compared with the same quarter of the previous year, % 2022 2023 2022 2023 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Euro area 20 -1.8 -0.8 0.2 0.3 2.9 0.4 -1.5 -2.1 Euro area 19 -1.8 -0.8 0.1 0.3 2.8 0.3 -1.7 -2.2 EU -1.5 -0.7 0.4 0.8 3.6 0.8 -0.9 -1.0 Belgium -0.4 1.0 -1.3 1.8 4.8 4.4 1.7 1.2 Bulgaria 0.4 1.6 4.3 2.7 13.4 9.5 10.7 9.2 Czechia -2.2 -1.3 -0.4 0.3 6.9 0.9 -2.9 -3.5 Denmark -6.4 0.7 2.7 3.1 -6.4 -7.9 -6.6 -0.2 Germany -5.1 -2.9 -1.2 -1.4 -3.6 -6.8 -9.6 -10.2 Estonia 0.2 0.0 3.8 -0.3 16.9 9.2 5.0 3.8 Ireland 1.2 -0.7 -0.5 1.5 8.6 5.1 2.7 1.4 Greece : : : : : : : : Spain -0.8 0.7 2.1 2.5 5.5 3.5 3.7 4.5 France -0.6 -0.9 -0.5 0.4 4.7 2.9 0.7 -1.5 Croatia 4.7 2.0 3.5 0.3 17.3 14.0 13.7 10.9 Italy -0.1 0.0 1.9 0.0 2.7 1.0 0.6 1.8 Cyprus -1.5 1.9 -0.1 0.5 4.7 6.1 3.6 0.6 Latvia -0.6 -0.1 4.9 -0.9 8.6 5.9 5.4 3.2 Lithuania 1.9 1.8 2.4 2.4 16.0 13.1 9.4 8.7 Luxembourg -1.5 -4.3 -2.2 -6.3 5.5 -1.7 -5.9 -13.6 Hungary -1.7 3.1 0.5 -0.3 17.5 10.4 4.9 1.5 Malta 0.7 1.1 1.5 1.2 5.9 6.6 4.5 4.6 Netherlands -2.5 -1.0 -1.3 1.1 5.3 -0.1 -4.3 -3.8 Austria -1.2 -2.2 -0.1 1.3 7.2 1.8 -0.4 -2.2 Poland 1.4 -0.1 3.2 4.5 9.3 5.8 7.0 9.3 Portugal 1.1 1.3 3.1 1.8 11.3 8.7 8.7 7.6 Romania 2.5 -0.4 -0.8 3.4 6.8 4.6 0.1 4.8 Slovenia 1.4 1.6 1.9 0.7 11.6 8.8 7.4 5.7 Slovakia -0.8 0.0 -3.9 0.8 9.7 7.6 -1.9 -3.8 Finland -3.5 -1.9 0.9 -2.7 -2.3 -5.1 -5.6 -7.0 Sweden -3.6 -0.8 0.6 -0.4 -3.7 -6.9 -6.8 -4.2 Iceland 1.4 -0.3 2.5 -0.9 21.0 15.8 10.1 2.7 Norway -3.6 3.1 2.3 -2.2 3.0 1.7 1.9 -0.5 Switzerland 1.2 -1.2 1.2 0.2 4.8 3.9 2.4 1.3 : data not available. Source datasets: prc_hpi_q (compared with the previous quarter) and prc_hpi_q (compared with the same quarter of the previous year).