Deloitte Property Index
Living in Europe: Housing Trends and Prices 2024
Romania maintains the third position in the top of the European countries with the cheapest new housing, after Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece, with an average price of 1,504 EUR/sqm in 2023, slightly up from 1,461 EUR/sqm in 2022, according to Deloitte Property Index 2024, conducted in 24 countries based on data from their main cities and towns.
Romania has become more affordable than a year ago. If in 2022 a Romanian needed 6.3 average gross annual salaries at national level* to purchase a new 70 sqm dwelling, in 2023 the average dropped to 5.9 salaries, which places our country fourth in the top of the affordability, after Denmark (4.7 gross annual salaries), Norway (4.8) and Italy (5.3). The least affordable European country among those analyzed is the Czech Republic, with 13.3 gross annual salaries needed to buy a new home, followed by Slovakia (12.7 gross annual salaries).
*The calculation refers to the average gross salary at national level in 2023 (i.e. before taxes), for a period of 12 months (annually).
Cities perspective
Paris continues to lead the top of the most expensive European cities, with an average price of 14,900 EUR/sqm for a new apartment, followed by Munich (10,900 EUR/sqm) and inner London (8,018 EUR/sqm). In Romania, the most expensive city is Cluj-Napoca, with 2,434 EUR/sqm and 3% increase compared to the previous year, while Bucharest ranks second, with 1,726 EUR/sqm, followed by Brasov, with 1,618 EUR/sqm. This places our country among the few European states in which the most expensive city is not the capital, alongside Belgium, whose ranking is led by Antwerp, Italy with Milan, Germany with Munich and Spain, where Barcelona ranks first.
Deloitte Property Index 2024
Mortgage Markets in Europe
Average household indebtedness is low in Hungary, Romania, Greece, Slovenia, and Croatia, with less than 30% of total outstanding residential loans relative to household disposable income.
In contrast, the states of Central Europe, like the Czech Republic, Austria or Slovakia have managed to keep their private household debt levels between 40% and 60%.
France and Germany – two of the biggest residential markets in Europe – both still have private household debt ratios lower than 80%.
On the other side of the spectrum, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands have the highest levels of household debt. While Denmark limits its debt below 170%, Norway and the Netherlands have seen debt climb to near 180%.
When comparing the average mortgage rates, Poland (8.1%), followed by Romania (7.7%), Hungary (7.4%), and Serbia (6.8%) have the highest rates. An average mortgage interest rate above 4.5% has also been observed in the Czech Republic (5.9%), Denmark (5.2%), Bosnia and Hercegovina (4.9%), Norway (4.8%), Italy and the United Kingdom (both 4.7%).
In contrast, the lowest average mortgage rates were observed in Bulgaria (2.5%), Spain – (3.1%), Belgium and Croatia (3.3%), France, Slovenia, and Portugal (3.6%), Israel and Slovakia (3.8%), and in Austria (3.9%).
The 13th edition of the Deloitte Property Index study analyzes the evolution of the residential real estate market in 24 countries and 69 cities in 2023. All price statistics collected are converted into euro to provide comparable results.
Compare how the European real estate market has developed
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