site.btaBulgaria Ranks Third in EU in Annual House Price Growth in Q3

Bulgaria ranks third among European Union member states in terms of annual growth in house prices in the third quarter of 2025, according to Eurostat data published on Friday.

Within the span of one year, house prices in Bulgaria increased by 15.4%. Higher growth was recorded only in Hungary, at 21.1%, and Portugal, at 17.7%.

Among the member states for which data are available, only Finland recorded an annual decline in house prices in the third quarter of 2025, down by 3.1%.

Compared with the previous quarter, house prices decreased in five member states and increased in 21. The largest declines were recorded in Luxembourg (3.1%), Finland (2.2%), and Slovenia (1.1%), while the strongest increases were seen in Latvia (5.2%), Slovakia (4.9%), and Portugal (4.1%).

In the third quarter of 2025, house prices, as measured by the House Price Index, rose by 5.1% year on year in the euro area and by 5.5% in the European Union. Compared with the second quarter of 2025, prices increased by 1.6% in both the euro area and the EU.

In the long term, Eurostat data show a divergence in the dynamics of house prices and rents. While rents have been increasing relatively steadily, house prices have followed a more volatile path, alternating between declines, stagnation, and periods of sharp growth. Between 2015 and the third quarter of 2025, house prices in the EU rose by 63.6%, while rents increased by 21.1%.

Comparing the third quarter of 2025 with the same period in 2015, house prices rose more than rents in 25 member states. The most significant increases were recorded in Hungary (275%), Portugal (169%), Lithuania (162%), and Bulgaria (156%). Finland is the only EU country where house prices are lower than in 2015, down by 2%.

Over the same period, rents increased in all 27 member states, with the largest rises recorded in Hungary (107%), Lithuania (85%), Slovenia (76%), Poland (75%), and Ireland (74%).