EU Home Sales Rebounded in 2025
House sales rose in most EU countries with available data in 2025, signaling a recovery from a weaker 2024. The rebound was uneven: Slovenia, Lithuania and Austria posted gains above 20%, while Croatia, Bulgaria and Poland still recorded declines.
EU housing transactions returned to growth
Eurostat reported that house sales increased in most European Union countries with comparable data in 2025. The statistics cover 18 EU countries and include transactions of new and existing dwellings — apartments and houses — where the buyer is a household. The data are provided by countries on a voluntary basis, which means the sample does not cover the entire EU.
The number of transactions fell in only three of the 18 countries. Sales declined by 4.1% in Croatia, 2.5% in Bulgaria and 1.1% in Poland. The largest increases were recorded in Slovenia, where transactions rose by 29.9%, followed by Lithuania at 22.8% and Austria at 21.4%.
For Europe’s property market, this is an important signal after a period of expensive mortgage credit and cautious buyers. Higher transaction volumes suggest that some postponed demand has returned, but the structure of the rebound points to very different national conditions: some markets recovered after a sharp fall, while others continued to cool.
The recovery followed a weak 2024
The picture was weaker in 2024. Compared with 2023, house sales decreased in six countries and increased in 12. The steepest declines were recorded in Slovenia, down 17.7%, Croatia, down 13.9%, and France, down 9.4%. The strongest increases were in Luxembourg, up 47.1%, Hungary, up 34.8%, and the Netherlands, up 17%.
Slovenia therefore stands out as the clearest rebound case. After a fall of almost 18% in 2024, the market grew by almost 30% in 2025. That reversal may reflect returning buyers after a pause, lower uncertainty and more active mortgage lending. Croatia, by contrast, remained in negative territory in 2025 despite a steep decline a year earlier.
Poland and Bulgaria also diverged from the broader recovery. Their transaction declines came at a time when most of the sampled EU market was normalizing. For investors, that means the European headline trend does not erase local drivers such as mortgage rates, supply, household incomes, tax rules, migration and expectations for future prices.
Home prices rose faster than rents
The recovery in transactions coincided with continued price growth in early 2026. In the first quarter of 2026, EU house prices rose by 5.1% year on year, while rents increased by 3%. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, house prices rose by 1.2% and rents by 0.7%.
Compared with the 2025 annual average, house prices rose faster than rents in most countries. In 19 EU countries with available data, home-price growth outpaced rental growth. The largest house-price increases were recorded in Portugal at 10.3%, Bulgaria at 9.4% and Slovakia at 9.1%. Prices fell only in France, down 0.5%, and Finland, down 1.8%.
Rents increased in almost every EU country. The exceptions were Slovenia, where rents fell by 0.9%, and Finland, where they were unchanged. Among the remaining countries, the sharpest rental increase was in Croatia, up 21.9%, followed by Bulgaria at 6.4% and Greece at 5%.
More sales do not mean more affordable homes
Higher transaction volumes do not automatically mean housing has become more affordable. If sales rise while prices also climb, the market may become more liquid without becoming easier to enter for households on ordinary incomes. In that environment, buyers with savings, investors and households able to secure mortgages on acceptable terms tend to return first.
The issue is especially visible in countries where home prices rise faster than rents. For investors, that can mean rental yields come under pressure unless rents catch up with purchase prices. For households, it means larger down payments, heavier debt burdens and greater dependence on interest rates.
The gap between transactions, prices and rents also matters for high-demand cities. In those markets, rising sales can intensify competition for limited supply rather than solve a housing shortage. At EU level, the housing market becomes a political issue: stronger turnover supports construction, banks and tax revenues, but it does not remove affordability pressure.
Eastern and southern Europe send mixed signals
Country-level figures show that regional differences remain significant. Lithuania ranked among the top three for transaction growth. Bulgaria recorded both a decline in sales and strong home-price growth. Croatia combined falling sales with a sharp increase in rents. These combinations show that demand, supply and housing returns are not moving in sync.
In Central and Eastern Europe, mortgage conditions and household incomes are key. In faster-growing economies, wage growth can support demand, but limited supply in large cities quickly feeds into prices. In southern European tourism markets, short-term rentals and foreign buyers remain additional factors.
Austria’s 21.4% rise in transactions also matters as an example of recovery after a tighter mortgage period. In high-income countries with developed banking systems, even modest improvements in credit conditions can bring back buyers who delayed purchases in 2023 and 2024.
Europe’s housing market enters a new phase
The main message from 2025 is the return of liquidity. More homes changed hands, the market looked less frozen, and buyers became more willing to act. But higher sales should not yet be read as a durable recovery in affordability. Prices are still rising, rents are increasing and buyer activity remains weak in some countries.
For banks and developers, this is a positive signal. More transactions mean more mortgage applications, fees, taxes and potential demand for new construction. For buyers, the picture is more complicated. In a rising-price environment, a more active market can accelerate the race for limited supply, especially in major cities and tourist regions.
As International Investment experts report, Europe’s housing market returned to movement in 2025, but not to balance. Higher transaction volumes show demand revival, not a solution to affordability. The critical risk for 2026 is a shift from recovery to renewed overheating: if prices continue to outpace incomes and rents, rising sales will look less like proof of a healthy market and more like evidence of widening separation between capital-rich buyers and households remaining in rental housing.