Bulgaria had the second-biggest annual rise in home-buying and upkeep costs in the EU in the second quarter of 2026, Eurostat data show. Costs were up 11.7% compared with the same quarter of 2025.
Bulgaria also ranked second compared with the first quarter of the year, when costs rose 4.3%.
The figures come from the OOHPI index, which tracks prices for owner-occupied housing. It covers the cost of homes new to households, mainly newly built ones, as well as the costs of owning and transferring property: construction, repairs, maintenance and insurance.
The index uses the net acquisition method: sales of existing homes between households are left out, since the buyer's purchase cancels out the seller's sale. It does include homes bought from other sectors, such as the state or companies.
In Bulgaria, newly built homes make up 75.4% of the index for 2026, the highest share of any country with data.
Only Croatia ranks higher, with a 12% annual rise. Bulgaria is followed by Lithuania at 10.8%, Portugal at 10.6%, Sweden at 10.5% and Romania at 10.4%. Annual figures are available for 26 countries. Prices rose in 25 of them and fell in one.
Quarter-on-quarter, Romania saw the biggest rise, at 4.7%, followed by Bulgaria at 4.3% and Lithuania at 3.5%. Costs rose in 25 countries, with the Netherlands the only one to see a drop, of 0.2%.
Across the EU, costs rose 4.4% on the year, and 4% in the eurozone. Since the fourth quarter of 2020, costs have climbed a total of 36.3% in the EU and 33.5% in the eurozone. The fastest pace so far was in the second quarter of 2022, when the EU rate hit 11% and the eurozone 10.1%.
Across the EU, home insurance rose fastest over the year, up 7.4%. Among costs linked to buying a home, other purchase-related services rose the most, by 5.9%, while existing homes new to households rose the least, by 2.4%. Repairs and maintenance cost 3.3% more.
Self-build work and major renovations carry the biggest weight in the index, at 41.6% for the EU and 41.5% for the eurozone. Newly built homes account for 21.6% of the EU index and 19.8% of the eurozone index, while repairs and maintenance make up 20% and 20.5% respectively.