In charts: UK house prices may be rising, but it could be time to buy in Europe
The house price boom in the UK may be slowing, but at least the market here isn't in bad shape.
That's not the story across the channel.
We have higher prices than before the crash and there is enough demand in the market, even if it is waning slightly.
Many countries on the continent are still suffering from falling house prices, and the overall index for the Euro Area is behind its 2010 level.
Spain created a property bubble of mammoth proportions in the build-up to the crisis and prices are yet to bottom out.
In the second quarter this year, the index had dropped to 71.9 : the biggest drop in the European Union (N.B. Greece doesn't provide data).
For the Eurozone as a whole, the index score is 97, while in the UK, that figure was 113.6.
The data shows a mixed bag. Here are the 10 countries where house prices have risen the most since 2010 (data for Q2 2014, except Germany, Q4 2013):
And here are the 10 EU countries that have seen the biggest drops in house prices:
The results are indexed, which means they don't show prices, rather the trend in the market. For Spain, the downward trend has been a long and painful one. Stories abound of people unable to sell their homes. Demand from expats has been rising, though. With some economic indicators showing more positive results, the market may be close to bottoming out.
