H2-2016: Asset prices to recover in southern Europe but Italy

Asset prices in the Euro area increased by 2.9% and 2.4% year on year in the third and fourth quarter of 2016, respectively.

The trend of falling asset prices in the southern European countries has come to a stop with the exception of Italy. The price of assets held by Italian households dropped by more than two percent in Q3 and Q4 in comparison to the same quarters of the previous year. Even though Italian real estate prices have become more stable recently, prices of Italian businesses dropped by more than 15% year on year in each of the last two quarters of 2016.

In the northern countries of the Euro zone asset prices continued their upwards trend. The highest year on year price growth rates were recorded in Germany (+6.0% in Q3) and in the Netherlands (+4.9% in Q4).

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