International housing trends

House prices in the UK have outperformed every country in the eurozone except Spain over the past five years.

Since 2001, house prices in the UK have risen 90 per cent , compared with a 40 per cent increase for the eurozone as a whole over the same period.

Spain is the only country with higher house price growth than the UK in the past five years, with an increase of 100 per cent.

According to the latest research from Halifax, Belgium has experienced the largest rise in house prices in the last year of 18 per cent, followed by France at 15 per cent and Spain at 14 per cent. The UK had the fourth-largest increase of 13 per cent.

Of the 12 eurozone members included in this analysis, Germany is the only country to have experienced a fall in house prices, with a fall of 5 per cent over the past five years.

Despite rising faster than the UK over the past five years, house prices in Spain are lower. The average price in Spain stood at £150,000 at the end of 2006, compared with an average of £187,100 in the UK.

Tim Crawford, group economist at Halifax, said: “UK house prices have risen more rapidly than in its eurozone neighbours over the past five years. House price growth, however, has slowed in the past couple of years compared with the likes of Belgium and France recording bigger increases. Two of the largest economies surveyed – the US and Germany – are the only ones to have seen a fall in house prices