Press release

Q1 2019 characterised by moderate and stable growth in mortgage and housing markets

The European Mortgage Federation (EMF) is delighted to announce the publication of its Quarterly Review of European Mortgage Markets for the first quarter (Q1) of 2019.

Produced in cooperation with the Federation’s national experts, the Quarterly Review provides the latest short-term developments in mortgage and housing markets across the EU.

The publication highlights expert analytical commentary together with data tables and charts on the following key indicators:

• Total outstanding residential mortgage lending;
• Gross and net residential mortgage lending;
• Regulation & Government intervention;
• Nominal house price indices; and
• Mortgage interest rates;

Key highlights for Q1 2019 Quarterly Review

Macroeconomic context:

• During the first quarter of the year the main macroeconomic indicators stabilised and continued to demonstrate positive developments at European level. Therefore, and despite the loss of momentum that started last year, the European economy is still growing in aggregate terms.

Market developments:

The evolution of the market in Q1 2019 was characterised by:

• The growth of the outstanding mortgage market on a yearly and quarterly basis by 3.3% and 0.9% respectively.
• On the supply side, the picture is heterogenous, although in most countries supply continues to lag behind demand.
• Regarding house prices, during the first three months of 2019 several countries experienced a slight cooling-off of house prices with respect to previous quarter. Nevertheless, in most countries price growth on a yearly basis is still positive or has stabilised.
• In aggregate terms, the average interest rate continued to slightly increase with respect to the previous quarter.

The full Quarterly Review – Q4 2018 and the archive of previous editions (back to Q3 1998) are available on the EMF website.