Methodology

What we measure

Price growth

How much home prices rose, from official house price indices (Eurostat, the Bank for International Settlements and national statistics offices), or from yearly average prices where no index exists. Over several years we show the compound average per year. Growth is in each country's own currency (złoty for Poland, pounds for the UK…) and before inflation.

Rental yield

A year's rent as a % of the home's price, gross: before costs, agency or management fees, empty months and tax. Rent and price come from the same source family, so a city rent is never divided by a province-wide price. Over several years we show the average. Holiday-let (short-term) yields on the map are a model estimate: the 12-month yield raised by tourist demand (guest nights booked online per resident, Eurostat).

Price per m²

The latest average or median price per square metre from the best published source for each area: transaction registers and statistics offices first, then valuation and listing data. Definitions differ between countries (all dwellings or flats only, transactions or asking prices), so compare within a country first.

Both

Price growth plus rental yield. For one year this is what owning earned as a % of the price: the price change plus the rent (10% growth + 5% yield = 15%). Over several years it is close but not exact, because rent is not reinvested.

2026 so far

2026 is not over, so its figures cover the months published to date: most price indices to June, sales registers and listing data to September, rents to September. Each source's months of 2026 are compared with the same months of 2025, and that change is applied to the 2025 figure. So 2026 growth is a like-for-like change on a year earlier, and 2026 prices are on the same yearly-average scale as the other years. Where a source has no 2026 figures yet (yearly publications), the area takes the change of the larger area it belongs to. Short-term yields use 2025's tourism demand. The figures will be revised as the rest of the year is published.

When an area has no data of its own

An area without its own index or rent figures takes the numbers of the larger area it belongs to (a region takes its country's). Pages say so next to the figure, tables mark it with *, and rankings include only areas with their own data.

Quality checks

Every update runs automatic checks for values that look wrong: extreme yearly changes, price levels that disagree with the price index, one-year spikes, regions far from their neighbours, yields out of range and sources that disagree. Breaks in a source's method are handled so that growth is never computed across them.

What is not included

• Purchase taxes, notary and agency fees, VAT on new builds
• Whether you buy as a person or a company
• Mortgage costs, maintenance and management fees, vacancy
• Income and capital gains tax

Figures are for information, not investment advice.