Euronews, citing Eurostat statistics, reports a wide disparity in market trends. The year-over-year change in sales volumes ranged from a 4.1% decline in Croatia to a 29.9% increase in Slovenia.
What Drives the Housing Market
“Residential real estate transactions depend mainly on the availability of mortgage loans, interest rates, household income, employment, consumer confidence, and the supply of housing,” said Mikk Kalmet, a real estate consultant at Global Property Guide.
Double-digit growth rates were recorded in Lithuania (22.8%), Austria (21.4%), and Belgium (20.2%). As well as in Luxembourg (18.6%), Hungary (17.3%), the Netherlands (13.9%), Denmark (12.7%), France (11.2%), and Portugal (10.5%).
Among Europe’s largest economies, data was available only for Spain and France. In Spain, home sales rose by 5.4%.
“France shifted from a decline in 2024 to growth in 2025, while Spain showed positive trends in both years, indicating relatively stable demand,” Kalmet noted.
Croatia was not the only country where sales declined. A slight decrease in sales volume was also recorded in Bulgaria and Poland—by 2.5% and 1.1%, respectively.
Recovery in Market Activity
Calmet emphasized that in 2025, housing market activity picked up across most of the EU.
“This points to a broad recovery in market activity, most likely reflecting improved financing conditions and the release of pent-up demand from the period of high interest rates,” he explained.
“Croatia was the only country where the market had been declining for the past two years, which underscores that, despite the Europe-wide recovery, housing market dynamics there continue to be driven by domestic factors,” Kalmet noted.
Of the 14 countries for which data is available, France ranked first: more than one million housing units were sold there in 2025. In Slovenia, annual growth in percentage terms was the highest, but the volume of sales remained minimal—11,000 transactions.
The expert also emphasized that the market began to recover as Euribor rates and other bank interest rates stabilized. People who had postponed their purchases during the period of uncertainty gained greater certainty starting in late 2024. However, high construction costs and weak construction activity continue to limit the housing supply.
