According to Eurostat, in 2023, residents of Ireland faced the highest housing costs, including payments for water, electricity, and gas. Their expenses are twice as high as the EU average.
Luxembourg ranked second (86% above the EU average), followed by Denmark (80% above).
The cheapest housing in the bloc can be found in Bulgaria and Poland, where costs were 61% and 56% lower than the EU average, respectively.
Examining price trends, Eurostat notes that from 2010 to 2023, housing costs in Ireland increased from 17% above the EU average to 101%, effectively doubling.
During the same period, housing prices increased in 17 EU member states and decreased in 9, including Greece, Cyprus, and Spain. In Poland, housing costs remained stable.
In 2023, housing prices in EU countries decreased
While a housing crisis has affected several countries in Europe, including Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, the trend of rapidly rising property prices somewhat slowed last year, with housing prices in Europe decreasing by an average of 0.3%.
However, looking at the overall picture, one can conclude that from 2010 to 2023, housing prices in the bloc increased by an average of 48%, with the largest increases recorded in Estonia (+209%), Hungary (+191%), and Lithuania (+154%). Property prices fell in only two member states (data for Greece is unavailable) - in Italy and Cyprus, by 8% and 2%, respectively.
RelatedMeanwhile, rental costs have consistently risen, totaling a 22% increase from 2010 to 2023, with almost all member states reporting growth, except for Greece. For comparison, overall inflation in the EU during the same period was 36%.
Nevertheless, there are countries where the increase in rental prices significantly exceeds the average rates. In Estonia, which saw the highest growth, rents skyrocketed by 211%, while in Lithuania, they rose by 169%, and in Ireland, rental prices doubled over the same period.
Is housing affordable in European countries?
On average across the EU last year, people spent about one-fifth (19.7%) of their disposable income on housing, with the highest shares in Greece (35.2%), Luxembourg (27.6%), and Denmark (25.9%).
In Norway, Switzerland, and Germany, people spend about a quarter of their disposable income on housing.
At the same time, there has been a general improvement in the situation regarding the share of people who have fallen into debt on mortgages, rents, or utility bills - this figure in the EU dropped to 9.3% in 2023 from 12.4% in 2010, and only in five member states was some increase recorded. One country, however, significantly contradicts the trend of improvement - Greece, where nearly half of the population is in debt.
Two-thirds of homeowners
Regarding homeownership, there are vast differences across the bloc. In Romania, for example, over 95% of the population owns their homes. This is followed by Slovakia, Croatia, and Hungary, where more than 90% of the population owns their housing.
Renting is most common in Switzerland and Germany, where more than half of the population are tenants.
In total across the bloc, in 2023, more than two-thirds, or 69% of the population, owned their homes, while the remaining 31% rented.
House or apartment?
In the EU in 2023, more than half of the population lived in houses, nearly 48% in apartments, and only a small fraction of 0.6% chose alternative types of housing, such as boats and vans.
While the choice between a house and an apartment may also be largely determined by whether the house is in an urban or rural area, Ireland leads in overall comparisons, with 90% of the population living in houses.
The Netherlands came in second with the highest proportion of houses (79%), while Belgium and Croatia shared third place (77% each).
Spain has the most apartments (66%), followed by Latvia (65%, data from 2021), Malta (63%), and Germany (61%).
Where did people invest the most in real estate?
According to Eurostat, last year, residents of Cyprus invested in real estate an amount equivalent to 8.6% of the country's GDP. In Italy, this figure was 7%, slightly more than in Germany (6.9%) and France (6.4%).
The lowest figures were recorded in Poland (2.2% of GDP) and Greece (2.3%).
On average, investments in housing construction in the EU in 2023 accounted for 5.8% of GDP, which is about one trillion euros.