From Ireland to Greece, Sweden to Spain, homeowners have been seeing their properties easily outperform traditional market investments, sometimes registering well into double-digit annual gains. Flats in Italy's financial centre Milan have doubled in price over the past two years.
Dublin prices are estimated to have risen up to 10 percent over the past six months alone, while the cost of a flat in Paris's chic western suburbs is up 11.25 percent year-on-year.
In Sweden, owner-occupied house prices in densely populated metropolitan areas rose 16 percent in the 12 months after stock markets began to decline in spring 2000, although they have since stabilised.
Historically low interest rates and so mortgages have provided the impetus for the property market in the Eurozone.
The Brussels-based European Mortgage Federation EMF.L reported a rise in home loans by 200 billion euros last year to a total of around 3.9 trillion euros, an increase of about 5.5 percent.
Falling stock market returns have also played their part, with many investors seeking ’solid’ investments over the mercurial nature of the stock markets.
