1 minute ago by Reuters1 minute ago by Reuters1 minute ago by Reuters1 ReadFILE PHOTO: A “Housing for Sale” banner is seen in Frankfurt, Germany, on August 26, 2019. Ralph Orlowski/REUTERS BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) – The European Union’s statistics office reported on Thursday that house prices increased by 6.1 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2020, the largest increase since 2007. According to Eurostat, the House Price Index for nations in the euro area increased by 5.8% in the first three months of this year compared to the same period last year, the highest increase since the fourth quarter of 2006. In the first quarter of 2021, house prices in the euro region grew 1.3 percent and 1.7 percent in the EU, respectively, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Luxembourg (+17.0 percent ), Denmark (+15.3 percent ), Lithuania (+12.0 percent ), the Czech Republic (+11.9 percent ), and the Netherlands (+11.3 percent ) had the highest annual increases in house prices in the first quarter of 2021 among EU member states for which data was available, while prices fell only in Cyprus (-5.8 percent ). John Chalmers contributed reporting, and Mark Potter edited the piece./n
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