Structural factors in the EU housing markets

The European Central Bank (ECB) will today publish a report entitled "Structural factors in the EU housing markets" prepared by experts from the ECB and the national central banks of the European Union (EU). The report focuses on residential property price and rent dynamics, housing taxes and subsidies and the main interlinkages between housing markets and mortgage markets.

The report highlights how microeconomic structures in the EU housing markets have been influenced significantly by housing taxes and subsidies and other housing policies, such as those concerning the rental sector. Microeconomic structures at the national and local levels, together with macroeconomic conditions, have shaped the national housing market dynamics. These in turn are believed to have had an impact on aggregate demand and inflation, labour mobility and the financial position of households.

The report will be available (pdf 470 kB) on the ECB's website (http://www.ecb.europa.eu) under the "Publications" section. Hard copies of the report can be obtained in writing from the ECB's Press and Information Division.