While the housing market has entered a new crisis with rising interest rates, the fall in construction activities seems to affect rental prices.

On Tuesday, the Housing Observatory published the official figures for the last quarter of the year 2022, which reveal multiple findings.

First of all, they highlight the strong decrease of activities, particularly those affecting flats under construction: -48% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. The Observatory also notes a 25% drop for existing houses and 18% for existing flats. A similar trend further affects building land (-29%).

In conversation with RTL 5minutes, Julien Licheron from the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) described a "slowdown in the increase in sales prices". According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (STATEC), prices have increased by 5.6% compared to the last quarter of 2021.

Indeed, comparing the figures for the third and fourth quarters of 2022 points towards a slight fall in prices "ranging from -0.3% to 2.3%" on the whole market. Prices have therefore fallen at the end of the year but remain above the level recorded at the end of 2021.

Finally, it is on the rent front that figures are most concerning. According to the Observatory, rents have risen by 8% over the last twelve months "with a particular increase of 2.1% in the fourth quarter alone".

This increase exceeds the one observed on the sales market (+5.6%), but also that of consumer prices (+6%).