Acceleration of house prices’ growth in CEE

Growth in house prices has been accelerating since 2024. The latest data for the third quarter of 2024 show that year-on-year growth dynamics have accelerated in most of the CEE countries compared to previous quarters. The acceleration of growth dynamics is most visible in Czechia and Slovakia, where house prices declined in 2023 on average by -1.6% and -0.05%, respectively. In these two countries, house prices went up by 3.8% and 2.4% on average over the three quarters of 2024. In other CEE countries, growth in 2024 has been even more dynamic. In Croatia, Hungary, and Poland, it was even in the double-digits. Poland, with an average growth above 16% in the three quarters of 2024, is leading the ranking. Favorable regulations regarding mortgages, such as subsidies for young families, drove such dynamic growth in Poland. While Poland may be an exception, in general, we see that growth in housing prices has bottomed out in 2023 (from the decline after the post-pandemic peak), and with economic recovery, we expect growth dynamics to remain positive. Finally, from a broader perspective, over the last decade, house prices tripled in Hungary, more than doubled in Czechia, Croatia, Poland, and Slovenia, and almost doubled in Slovakia.