House prices in Portugal rising faster than the rest of Europe

House prices in Portugal are rising faster than any other country in the European Union fuelling fears of a speculative bubble.

Prices rose 13.2% in the second quarter of this year, +3.3% on the aggregate average of all the other EU countries.
According to data from Eurostat published on Friday (today), house prices increased 9.9% in the EU space and 9.3% in the Euro Zone in like-for-like terms.
Compared with the previous quarter, the prices of homes rose 2.3% in both the EU and Euro Zone, but in Portugal they rose 3.1% on the first three months of the year.
But although Portugal is seeing the most significant increase in the speed at which homes are increasing in price compared to the rest of Europe in average terms, three countries suffered greater increases: Estonia (+27.4%), Czech Republic (+23.1%) and Hungary (+22.8%).