In brief

• Residential property prices in the EU rose faster than household incomes over the past decade.
• In 2025, the price-to-income ratio was 6.8 percent higher than in 2015.
• The largest increase was recorded in Portugal, while the Czech Republic ranked fourth.

The gap between prices and incomes

In the European Union, residential property prices rose faster than household incomes over the last ten years. According to Eurostat, in 2025 the price-to-income ratio was 6.8 percent higher than in 2015 (Ceny bytů a domů rostou rychleji než mzdy ve většině Evropy, situace v Česku patří k nejhorším – Novinky.cz). However, the differences between countries are very large.

The largest increases and decreases

Over this period, the ratio rose most in Portugal (by 60.8 percent), followed by the Netherlands (by 34.3 percent), Hungary (by 26.5 percent), the Czech Republic (by 25.8 percent) and Spain (by 24.5 percent). At the other end, Romania saw the largest decline in the price-to-income ratio, falling by 42.8 percent. It was followed by Finland (a decrease of 25.2 percent) and Bulgaria (by 16.2 percent).

The Czech Republic among the worst

The Czech Republic recorded the fourth-highest increase in this ratio in the Union. Eurostat notes that prices are rising faster than wages in seventeen member states, while in the remaining ten the ratio has fallen.

Why prices are rising

The rise in property prices is linked to a small number of construction starts. The supply of new homes is not keeping up with demand, and combined with rising incomes and strong demand, this is driving prices up.

Read also

• New flats in Prague and Brno at record levels, but prices still rising