Rics sees house price rises across Europe

03 March 2010

Written by Steve Olejnik

Buy to let landlords may be interested in the latest European Housing Review from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

According to the report published yesterday (March 2nd), the UK is one of a small amount of countries to see a rise in house prices last year.

The country seeing the greatest price hikes was Norway, at 12 per cent.

Finland, Sweden and the UK also reported increases in the cost of property.

It was found that some of these countries saw rises dating back to spring 2009 and the UK had an overall increase of one per cent.

Author of the report professor Michael Ball said the results have "surprised" many in the industry.

"Low interest rates and central bank support for mortgage markets have played key roles in bringing recovery," he explained.

However, "huge problems remain", he cautioned.

Chief economist at Rics Simon Rubinsohn echoed the sentiments and said that economic recovery is shown to be underway.

But he warned that housing markets in countries such as Ireland and Spain are still struggling.

Revealed at an event in Paris, the review's results come after a year of "dramatic change" in the industry, Rics noted.

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