Bulgaria has recorded the sharpest increase in the cost of building new homes among all European Union member states over the past decade, according to data cited from Eurostat and included in the 2026 edition of the report Key European Business Indicators.
The figures show that between 2015 and 2025, prices for the construction of new residential buildings in Bulgaria surged by 166.1%, placing the country at the top of the EU ranking. No other member state registered a larger cumulative increase over the period.
Bulgaria is followed by Hungary, where construction costs rose by 155.4%, and Romania with an increase of 130.7%. At the opposite end of the scale are countries where price growth remained relatively modest. Italy recorded a rise of 17.0%, Greece 17.3%, and Finland 22.1%, making them the member states with the smallest increases during the same ten-year period.
The report examines producer prices in the construction of new residential buildings, excluding collective housing facilities. The indicator reflects construction costs from the perspective of building companies and is based on the prices paid by clients to contractors for completed work.
Across the European Union as a whole, construction prices for new residential properties increased by an average of 48.2% between 2015 and 2025. The strongest acceleration occurred in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, when inflationary pressures and rising material costs affected the construction sector across the bloc.
