The number of real estate transactions last year fell in 13 out of the 16 EU member states for which the European statistical office had data.

Luxembourg recorded the largest year-on-year decline, while Cyprus had the largest increase.

As stated, last year was the second consecutive year in which most EU member states saw a decrease in home sales, with ten EU countries experiencing this situation in 2022. According to Eurostat data, Luxembourg had the largest year-on-year decline last year, at 43.3 percent, followed by Austria (-26.4 percent), Hungary and Finland (both -24.5 percent), and France (-21.5 percent). Right behind France is Slovenia, where the decline was one-fifth. At the same time, Cyprus had the largest increase of 31 percent, with an increase in the number of transactions also recorded in Poland at 3.9 percent and in Ireland, albeit only by 0.6 percent.

Despite the practically stagnant market, it was recently announced that the trend of rising house prices is present in many European countries.

According to Eurostat research, in the first quarter of this year, prices rose in 26 European Union countries by an average of 1.3 percent, and rents by three percent compared to the same period last year.

According to the latest data, in 2022, as many as 69 percent of the EU population lived in households that own their homes, while the remaining 31 percent lived in rented apartments. The highest ownership share was recorded in Romania (95 percent), Slovakia (93 percent), Croatia (91 percent), and Hungary (90 percent). In all member states, except Germany, there were more owners than renters.

Statistics also show that house prices have more than doubled in seven EU countries since 2010, including Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Luxembourg. A decrease in rents was recorded in Italy and Cyprus.

Renting is more expensive in 26 EU countries, with the highest increases recorded in Estonia, Lithuania, and Ireland. The only decline in rental prices was recorded in Greece.

A somewhat similar situation could be said to exist in Serbia, but in some cities, there was an increase in transactions even though the trend of market stabilization and calming continued in the first quarter, which marked the entire last year after extremely dynamic growth in 2021 and 2022.

As announced by the Republic Geodetic Authority (RGA), simultaneously with this market condition, there was a more moderate increase in apartment prices at the national level in the first quarter. According to the Republic Geodetic Authority's report, the total amount of money used for purchasing real estate amounted to 1.5 billion euros, which is 2.6 percent less compared to the same period last year. Of the 1.5 billion euros, as much as 456 million euros come from the partially regulated market.

The total number of real estate transactions in the first quarter of this year was 29,108, which is one percent less than in the first quarter of 2023.

The largest share of the total real estate turnover is accounted for by apartment sales (834 million euros), with a 56 percent share of the total transacted value, while 122.5 million euros were allocated for houses, i.e., eight percent of the total value. Regarding the method of payment, seven percent of all transacted real estate was paid for with loans, which is one percent less than last year, and loans most often financed apartment purchases – 18 percent.

In the first quarter of 2024, Niš and Kragujevac recorded a year-on-year growth in real estate transactions of 12.9 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Novi Sad also shows a slight increase in the number of transactions by 0.8 percent, while in Belgrade, a decline of 3.1 percent was observed compared to the same period last year.

A total of 479.6 million euros was spent on apartments in the capital in the first quarter.