Since 2014, the Observatoire de l’Habitat and the national statistics bureau Statec have jointly published a report on Luxembourg’s residential property market. This 16th edition is summarised in three points.

Activity picks up in almost all sectors

Activity on the residential property and land markets picked up in the second quarter of 2024, after five consecutive quarters marked by historically low levels. This recovery, which began in the first quarter of the year, was confirmed by a significant increase in sales: +30.5% for existing flats and +33.8% for existing houses compared with the same quarter last year. On the other hand, sales of flats under construction are struggling to pick up, with a 10.5% fall in sales over the same period. The number of transactions in this sector remains four times lower than in a ‘normal’ quarter for flats under construction.

Prices down over the year, but not for much longer

The slowdown in the fall in house prices was confirmed this quarter. The hedonic house price index provided by Statec actually rose by 1% over the quarter. House prices have continued to fall over the last twelve months--by 8.3% between the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024. This trend can be seen in all sectors of the market: flats under construction are down by 4.3%, while existing flats and houses are down by 9.5% and 9.9% respectively. The Observatoire de l’Habitat and Statec nevertheless expect rents to start rising again in the coming months.

Small is expensive

The trend in flat prices depends on the surface area of each property. Prices of studios and small flats--with a surface area of less than 50m2--have risen more than those of larger flats. Since 2015, prices in this first category have risen by an annual average of 6.4%, compared with just 5% for flats between 110 and 130m2.

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