House Prices and Rents are on Different Tracks in Europe

It is easy to assume that rising house prices must be accompanied by rising rents. However, data from the OECD Affordable Housing Database point to a striking divergence. In the euro area, real house prices rose by nearly 39 index points between 1996 and early 2025, while real rents fell by around 8 points. Over 1996–2024, the two series were negatively correlated (−0.58).

Eurostat data tell a similar story. Importantly, “real” rents are adjusted for inflation. Tenants were not necessarily paying fewer euros: Eurostat shows that nominal rents across the EU rose by 25% between 2010 and 2024, while overall consumer prices increased by 39%. In other words, rents kept rising, but more slowly than inflation, which is why they, in effect, declined in real terms.

Want more tourism and accommodation insights like this? Sign up to Statista and Booking.com's monthly travel and tourism newsletter here!