House prices across most of Europe are stagnating, according to new figures from the European Union statistics body.
Prices only increased year-on-year in 14 countries out of the 28 member states, and five of those only saw less than a 1% rise.
Homeowners in the other 14 states all saw the value of their properties drop.
The difference between the rising and falling markets varies widely – from a 16.9% plunge in newest member Croatia, which joined the EU in July 2013 to a 11% leap in values in the Baltic state of Estonia.
Eurozone disappointment
Eurostat, the official EU statistics body, provides figures for the Eurozone countries and the entire European Union.
The latest statistics, for the third quarter of 2013, showed on average, house prices in the Eurozone slipped by 1.3%, while those for the EU performed better, only dropping an average 0.5%.
Comparing prices to the previous quarter, the Eurozone and EU averages were on par, with 0.6% and 0.7% rises respectively.
The figures suggest the economies of the Eurozone countries are still performing more sluggishly than those of EU countries outside the single currency bloc.
Winners and losers
The highest year-on-year average house price increases were in Estonia, up 11.1%, Luxembourg up 6.5%, but for flats only and Latvia, up 6.2%.
The largest falls were in Croatia, down 16.9%, Cyprus, down 8.0% and Spain, down 6.4%.
The highest quarterly increases in the third quarter were in Estonia, up 5.3%, Ireland up 4.1%, and Britain, up 2.5%, and the biggest decreases were in Slovenia, down 4.0%, Denmark, down 3.3% and Romania down 2.4%.
Despite the disappointing market report for homeowners, prices are still rising at their fastest rate ion Europe than at any other time in the past two years, but the averages are pulled up by strong performance in just a few markets rather than across the board increases.
European Union Average House Prices
Source: Eurostat
