Price Index

Mortgage Markets

Everyone, everywhere is talking about rising house prices and the problems of getting onto a rung of the property ladder.

The house market boom has rocketed prices to three or four times their previous price in many European countries.

Some of the lowest mortgages ever seen have been available across Europe even with the latest interest rise the lending rate is still lower than in 2000.

Residential loans in Europe have doubled in the past 10 years.

More housing is needed over most of Europe. With the present trend of young people living on their own, getting married later, more divorcing and people living longer plus on top of these reasons is the large amount of immigrants settling in man European countries. It all adds to the lack of housing except for the countries the migrants have left.

This problem is also relayed to the building trades where many immigrants gain employment but their own countries are left without builders.

Both in Spain and France the cost of land has risen which in turn has put up the house prices. It appears though in France all but the two places in greatest need of housing, Paris and the French Riviera, are getting plenty of new housing.

In the UK the South East and London are seeing huge rises in population but there is nowhere near enough housing to meet the demand.

Some of the major problems that developers find whilst trying to buy into the foreign markets is the lack of land available for residential builds and the difficulties that arise when trying to gain planning permission. In Eastern Europe an added problem is that of the lack of finance for developers.

It is now obvious that more housing is needed throughout Europe.