The most expensive and the cheapest housing markets in Europe

Real estate markets in Europe at the moment are negatively affected by the debt crisis. For example, in Greece the cost of housing has declined year on year by 11.8% (from January 2012 to March 2013), while last year there were only drop by 9.8%, reports Global House Price Index of the situation on the European and global real estate markets in 2012-2013, prepared by Knight Frank.

Apart from Greece, prices fell at an annual rate in Hungary (-9.0%), Netherlands (-8.3%), Portugal (-6.9%), Cyprus (-4.8%), Lithuania (-4, 1%), Italy (-4.1%), Ireland (-3.0%) and Poland (-3.0%). A significant deterioration was noted on the real estate market in Spain, where the cost of housing has decreased by 7.9%. The Spanish government has made changes in the tax laws, according to which since April 2013 every citizen of the country must declare any foreign assets worth more than €50,000. On the other hand, in July the new law begins to operate, according to which foreign nationals, who acquire property in Spain valued at more than €500,000, will receive tax support (in particular, the "golden visa" - residence permit).

One of the most stable real estate markets in Europe now is the British. Property prices in the UK rose by 0.2%, as in the past year. The state supports the funding scheme for loans, allowing you to keep mortgage interest rates at 1.7%. Experts believe that in a few months this figure drops to 1.5%. Also in Albion introduced a scheme that involves getting interest-free loans and guarantees to buyers.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) held a comparative analysis of the average property price and size of the annual income and taxes. It was concluded how housing costs exceed the purchasing power in different countries. It turned out that the most expensive real estate markets in Europe are Belgium, Norway, France. The average house price in the UK is higher by 31% than the average purchasing power of the working population and higher by 21% than the average purchasing power of citizens of retirement age. The cheapest real estate markets in Europe are Portugal, Ireland and Germany.

It was analyzed the real estate markets in 55 countries, 35 of them saw an increase in prices. In addition to Hong Kong (+28%), China (+23.8%) and the UAE (Dubai, +21.1%), the top ten includes Colombia, Brazil, Taiwan, South Africa, Indonesia and the United States. The only European country in the top 10 rating was Turkey (prices increase by 11.5% since 2012).