"House prices have seen strong growth across the EU over the last decade, especially during the pandemic. House prices began to rise during the economic recovery of the 2010s, although with notable differences between Member States" and since then, "prices have doubled in Germany and the Netherlands, while Portugal, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Luxembourg Austria, Luxembourg, Latvia and Lithuania have recorded even stronger price growth", reports the European Commission.

In a chapter dedicated to the housing crisis in the autumn economic forecasts, Brussels points out that "European real estate markets have been cooling since mid-2022, alongside the significant slowdown in credit levels", given the tight monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Still, despite the fact that house prices in several Member States have already reached their peak, as early as the second quarter of 2022, "constant price growth continues in Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia", says Brussels.

The community executive concludes that, at the EU level, "in the future, restrictions on households' borrowing capacity suggest that housing prices will remain under pressure in the coming quarters, before resuming growth".