Luxembourg housing prices take biggest leap in EU

Housing prices across the European Union went up the most since 2007 at the start of the year, but Luxembourg’s hefty real estate price tags still topped the charts, the EU’s statistics agency said on Thursday.

Prices increased by an average 6.1% across the bloc compared with the beginning of 2020 – the steepest annual increase since 2007, Eurostat reported. Luxembourg led the way with the sharpest rise among EU countries at 17% more than last year. 

Luxembourg's price jump in the first quarter of 2021 was 12 percentage points more than the EU average.

Denmark saw the second-highest jump at 15%, followed by Lithuania and the Czech Republic at 12% and the Netherlands 11%. The only country where prices fell was Cyprus at -6%.

The Grand Duchy is notorious for its eye-watering housing prices, and growing numbers of Luxembourgers are moving across the border to become home-owners. Surrounding countries also saw a rise in real estate costs with Germany seeing a 9% annual increase, Belgium 7% and France 6%.

Most people in Luxembourg live in a house, Eurostat said at the end of last year. The average house price in or around Luxembourg City is €1.4 million, according to Luxembourg’s statistics agency Statec. The national average for a house is around €900,000. 

Despite the demand, thousands of housing units are standing empty. There isn’t much control over vacant properties and the government can't say how many are unoccupied or temporarily empty as people move in or out.

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