Eurozone house prices rose by 4.5 percent in the first quarter this year compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the fastest pace in 11 years, the European Union (EU)'s statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday.

Eurozone house prices in the first three months was 0.6 higher than in the last three months of 2017.

Among the member states, the highest annual increases in the first quarter were recorded in Latvia, Slovenia (both above 13 percent), Ireland and Portugal (both above 12 percent).

Prices fell in Sweden and Italy both by 0.4 percent as well as in Finland by 0.1 percent.

In the wider EU bloc, house prices gained 0.7 percent on quarter, taking the annual growth to 4.7 percent in first quarter this year.