Portuguese prices up in 2014

Photo: Chris Yunker

The official stats show that house prices increased by an average of 1 per cent in the European Union in the first quarter of this year compared to the fourth quater of 2013. Prices within the eurozone, though, fell 0.3 per cent, which suggests that the small group of European markets is still struggling with recovery.

But many of Europe's hardest-hit economies are starting to see turnarounds, Eurostat's figures reveal. Indeed, where once Spain and Cyprus were leading the declines, now the largest quarterly falls were recorded in Croatia (down 2.7 per cent) and Luxembourg (down 2.3 per cent).

Within the EU, Croatia and Slovenia led the annual decreases of 9.7 per cent and 6.6 per cent respectively, while Cyprus suffered the third biggest drop of 5.7 per cent.

Estonia stormed to the head of the Pack with positive growth of 17.5 per cent, just in front of Latvia (10.4 per cent). It is a sign of how strong the UK market's growth is that the country is now the third best performing country in the EU, with house values up 8 per cent. Estonia and the UK also lead quarterly growth, albeit with Sweden replacing Latvia's second place.

In Spain, though, the quarter-on-quarter decline is now just 0.3 per cent, while Ireland's falls are a similarly minute 1.2 per cent. Portugal, on the other hand, enjoyed a quarterly rise in property prices of 1.3 per cent.

The figures follow a report from the RICS, which said that Portuguese property values are beginning to stabilise, with confidence on the up.