Portugal Leads EU in Soaring House Prices
Portugal continues to top the European Union’s ranking for housing price growth. According to the latest Eurostat data, property sale prices in the country rose by around 17% in the second quarter of 2025, compared to the same period last year.
According to media sources, across the euro area, the increase was far more moderate with 5.1% in the Eurozone and 5.4% across the EU. Between April and June 2025, Portugal recorded the steepest rise among all Member States, with a 17.2% year-on-year increase, marking a new all-time high in national housing prices.
While housing costs have been rising steadily since early 2024, the pace remains strong, even if slightly slower than at the start of the year. In the first quarter of 2025, prices had already climbed 16.3%, with Luxembourg (+4.5%) and Croatia (+4.4%) trailing far behind. Among EU countries, Finland was the only one to see a drop in housing prices year-on-year in Q2 2025, with a -1.3% decline. Meanwhile, Portugal led the pack, followed by Bulgaria (+15.5%) and Hungary (+15.1%).
Portugal leads the surge with a year-on-year increase of 17.2%, the highest among EU Member States followed by Bulgaria (15.5%) and Hungary (15.1%).
Portugal’s housing boom isn’t new. Between 2010 and 2025, house prices in the country more than doubled (+141%). However, other nations experienced even sharper surges. Hungary (+277%) and Estonia (+250%) both saw prices more than triple during the same period.
Over the past 15 years, ten EU countries have seen housing prices double or more, led by Lithuania (+202%), Latvia (+162%), and the Czech Republic (+155%). Portugal followed with a 141% increase, alongside Bulgaria (+133%), Austria (+117%), Luxembourg (+112%), Slovakia (+105%), Poland (+104%), and Croatia (+102%). In contrast, Italy was the only country to record a decline in housing prices over the same period, at -1%.
In Portugal, the housing market has become one of the most discussed issues in both public debate and political agendas. Between 2015 and 2024, the national house price index rose 143%, while the average gross salary increased by only 36% widening the gap between income and the cost of home ownership.
The European Parliament recently released a preliminary report outlining potential measures to ease the housing crisis across the EU. Some of these proposals mirror initiatives already in place in Portugal, such as the “IMT Jovem” scheme, aimed at helping young buyers access the housing market.
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