In the fourth quarter of 2016, housing prices increased by 7.7% in comparison to the same period in the previous year.
In 2016, the average price per m2 of existing apartments was € 4,795 / m2 and the price for apartments under construction was € 6,051 / m2. The average price of a single-family home was €623,315.
Price increases accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2016, with prices for housing, both apartments and houses, having increased by 7.7% compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. This represents a marked acceleration in rates observed in previous quarters.
In 2016, prices rose by 6.0%, compared with 5.4% in 2015 and 4.4% in 2014. In the past years, price increases regarding apartments under construction were more pronounced than those on existing apartments. This trend was reversed in the last two quarters of 2016: in the fourth quarter of 2016, prices for dwellings under construction were 6.3% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2015. For existing dwellings, this rate rises to 8.4%. In particular, prices for existing homes increased by 9.1% in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to the fourth quarter of 2015. For existing apartments, the rise was 7.4%.
The rise in house prices under construction in 2015 was mainly fuelled by the prices paid for dwellings that were not intended for personal use (owner occupation). The VAT rate applied to these transactions increased from 3% to 17% in January 2015. Due to the transitional arrangements decided at that time, the transmission of the VAT increase on prices was felt gradually and continued to impact results in 2016. Homeowner housing prices increased 7.4% between the fourth quarter of 2014 and that of 2016, while the increase is 18.9% for investor owners for the same period.
