There are major geographical differences in Europe's residential property markets, according to the findings of the new European Housing Review 2011. Published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), it notes that many countries have seen improvements.
Put simply, the report suggests that housing markets in northern Europe are currently performing strongly and those in the south are struggling. Scandinavia, Germany, France and Belgium all saw house prices increase last year, while Ireland, Hungary and Cyprus experienced big falls.
Elsewhere, Spain, Greece and Portugal saw prices dip "moderately" and the residential markets in the UK, Netherlands, Poland and Italy all started to stabilise over the past year.
RICS added that mortgage constraints have continued to hamper a recovery in many countries, "but interest rates are low and there is little evidence of substantial mortgage debt deleveraging by households in countries with high levels of mortgage debt".
According to the report's author, Michael Ball, the overall recovery of property markets in Europe will be "bumpy".