Housing market: Where is it the most expensive to buy in Europe?

People in Ireland battled the highest housing costs, including water, electricity and gas, in 2023, which was double the EU average, according to Eurostat. 

The second most expensive place was Luxembourg (86% above the EU average) followed by Denmark (80% above) last year.

Meanwhile, people in Bulgaria, and Poland had the cheapest housing in the bloc, with costs below the EU average by 61% and 56% respectively.

Looking at the evolution of the prices, Eurostat notes that between 2010 and 2023, housing costs in Ireland went from 17% above the EU average to 101%, eventually doubling that.

Costs rose in 17 member states during the same period, and dropped in 9, including Greece, Cyprus and Spain. The housing costs remained unchanged in Poland. 

While housing crises are plaguing various countries in Europe, including Ireland, Portugal and Spain, the trend of skyrocketing property prices slightly paused last year, when European house prices decreased slightly by 0.3% on average. 

Looking at the bigger picture, however, shows that in total, house prices increased by 48% between 2010 and 2023 on average in the bloc, with the largest increases recorded in Estonia (+209%), Hungary (+191%) and Lithuania (+154%). Property prices lowered in two member states only (however, there is no data from Greece) in Italy and Cyprus by -8% and -2% respectively.

Meanwhile, rental costs steadily increased, by a total of 22% in the period 2010-2023 with almost all the member states recording a rise except for Greece. As a comparison, overall inflation in the EU for the same period sat at 36%.

However, there were countries with rental prices increasing far beyond the average. In Estonia, where the largest rental price increases were recorded, the cost