Housing prices in Europe: continuing upward trend with marked regional differences

Faced with generally lower and falling rates of inflation as well as disappointing growth expectations, a discussion arose last year in Europe about the risks of deflation. In this connection housing prices also became the focus of public interest, with talk of the danger of massive price declines on the German and/or European housing markets and the risk of deflation. Based on calculations of the Ifo Institute, there was no massive decline in housing prices, but price declines differed strongly according to sectors and regions. In some countries there were indeed price declines, but these had no impact on deflation risks in the housing sector.