House prices rose by 2.9 percent in the euro area and by 3.8 percent in the European Union (EU) in the fourth quarter of 2015 year-on-year, Eurostat said on Tuesday.

Compared with the third quarter of 2015, house prices remained stable in the 19-member euro area and rose by 0.2 percent in the 28-member EU in the fourth quarter of 2015, the EU statistical office said.

Among the member states, the highest annual increases in house prices in the fourth quarter of 2015 were recorded in Sweden (14.2 percent), Hungary (10.3 percent), and the United Kingdom (7.1 percent), while falls were observed in Croatia (minus 2.1 percent), Italy (minus 0.9 percent) and Cyprus (minus 0.6 percent).

Moreover, Eurostat said the highest quarterly increases were recorded in Bulgaria (3.1 percent), Latvia (2.3 percent) and Sweden (2.0 percent), and the largest falls in Cyprus (minus 4.2 percent), Lithuania (minus 2.1 percent) and Austria (minus 1.7 percent).