Having registered increases in all quarters of last year, it was a huge surprise to be told yesterday by Eurostat that house prices in Malta had decreased by no less than 5.4% in Q1 of this year.

This was announced by Eurostat yesterday. Malta's decrease in Q1 is the highest in the entire EU.

House prices in Malta had risen by 2.7% in Q2 of last year, by 4.5% in Q3, and by 3.7% in Q4 of 2016.

Among the Member States for which data are available, the highest annual increases in house prices in the first quarter of 2017 were recorded in the Czech Republic (+12.8%), Lithuania (+10.2%) and Latvia (+10.1%), while prices fell in Croatia (-0.4%) and Italy (-0.1%).

Compared with the previous quarter, the highest increases were recorded in the Czech Republic (+2.9%), Latvia (+2.8%) and Sweden (+2.5%), and the largest decreases in Malta (-5.4%), Slovakia (-2.4%) and Cyprus (-1.4%).

No explanations were given by Eurostat for this 5.4% decrease in Q1. However, it is to be noted that hHouse prices in Malta, as measured by the House Price Index, increased by 5.2% in the first quarter of 2017 when compared to the same period last year.ouse prices in Malta, as measured by the House Price Index, increased by 5.2% in the first quarter of 2017 when compared to the same period last year.

House prices, as measured by the House Price Index, rose by 4.0% in the euro area and by 4.5% in the EU in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2016, house prices rose by 0.4% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU in the first quarter of 2017.

In May 2017 compared with April 2017, seasonally adjusted production in the construction sector decreased by 0.7% in the euro area (EA19) and by 1.1% in the EU28, according to first estimates from Eurostat.

At the same time, in April 2017, production in construction grew by 0.3% in the euro area and by 0.2% in the EU28, Eurostat reported yesterday.

In May 2017 compared with May 2016, production in construction increased by 2.6% in the euro area and by 2.5% in the EU28.

The decrease of 0.7% in production in construction in the euro area in May 2017, compared with April 2017, is due to civil engineering falling by 0.9% and building construction by 0.6%.

In the EU28, the decrease of 1.1% is due to both building construction and civil engineering falling by 1.1%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the largest decreases in production in construction were recorded in Slovenia (-10.6%), Sweden (-7.1%) and Slovakia (-4.9%), and the highest increases in Hungary (+7.6%), Bulgaria (+3.6%) and Italy (+2.7%).

The increase of 2.6% in production in construction in the euro area in May 2017, compared with May 2016, is due to civil engineering rising by 2.8% and building construction by 2.5%.

In the EU28, the increase of 2.5% is due to building construction rising by 2.9% and civil engineering by 1.6%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the highest increases in production in construction were recorded in Hungary (+35.3%) and Bulgaria (+11.9%). Decreases were observed in Romania (‑16.7%), Spain

(-5.6%) and Slovakia (-2.1%).