Property prices still deflating for Eurozone
HOUSE prices are still falling in most of the European Union, while the UK bucks the continental trend with a surging property market.
In the Eurozone, official statistics yesterday showed that prices fell 1.3 per cent between the third quarter of 2012 and the same period in 2013. The fall was smaller across the EU, with prices down 0.5 per cent.
House prices are now growing in Ireland, up 3.7 per cent in the 12 months to September. But most euro countries are still facing declines: the damaged Spanish property market saw prices collapse by 6.4 per cent in the same year. Italian prices dipped by 5.3 per cent and houses in France continued to decline in value, down by 1.4 per cent.
UK house prices grew by 5.4 per cent in the year to November, according to official figures.
Germany’s Zew investor confidence index also came out yesterday, with a slight slowdown in the expectations part of the score.
Yet ING’s Carsten Brzeski said the country was still in a good place. “The fundamentals of the German economy remain strong,” Brzeski said. “The German economy seems to be in the starting blocks for a growth acceleration this year.”