Housing market: Where is it the most expensive to buy in Europe?

People in Ireland battled the highest housing costs, including water, electricity and gas, in 2023, which was double the EU average, according to Eurostat. 

The second most expensive place was Luxembourg (86% above the EU average) followed by Denmark (80% above) last year.

Meanwhile, people in Bulgaria, and Poland had the cheapest housing in the bloc, with costs below the EU average by 61% and 56% respectively.

Looking at the evolution of the prices, Eurostat notes that between 2010 and 2023, housing costs in Ireland went from 17% above the EU average to 101%, eventually doubling that.

Costs rose in 17 member states during the same period, and dropped in 9, including Greece, Cyprus and Spain. The housing costs remained unchanged in Poland. 

House prices decreased in 2023 in the bloc

While housing crises are plaguing various countries in Europe, including Ireland, Portugal and Spain, the trend of skyrocketing property prices slightly paused last year, when European house prices decreased slightly by 0.3% on average. 

Looking at the bigger picture, however, shows that in total, house prices increased by 48% between 2010 and 2023 on average in the bloc, with the largest increases recorded in Estonia (+209%), Hungary (+191%) and Lithuania (+154%). Property prices lowered in two member states only (however, there is no data from Greece) in Italy and Cyprus by -8% and -2% respectively.

Meanwhile, rental costs steadily increased, by a total of 22% in the period 2010-2023 with almost all the member states recording a rise except for Greece. As a comparison, overall inflation in the EU for the same period sat at 36%.

However, there were countries with rental prices increasing far beyond the average. In Estonia, where the largest rental price increases were recorded, the cost jumped by +211%, in Lithuania, there was a leap of +169%, and rentals in Ireland doubled in the same period. 

Is housing affordable across the EU?

On average, people in the EU spent about one-fifth (19.7%) of their disposable income on housing last year, with the highest shares in Greece (35.2%), Luxembourg (27.6%) and Denmark (25.9%).

In Norway, Switzerland and Germany, people spend roughly one-quarter of their disposable income on housing.

For those who could be considered at risk of poverty in the EU, this rate was a lot higher, 38.2% on average.

There is an improvement, nevertheless, in the share of people accumulating arrears on mortgage, rent or utility bills – this rate in the EU decreased to 9.3% in 2023 from 12.4% in 2010, with only five member states registering some increase. One country, however, goes largely against the improving trend, Greece, where almost half of the population has some arrears.

Over two-thirds of people living in EU households, owned their home last year

There are huge differences across the bloc when it comes to home ownership. In Romania, for instance, more than 95% of the population own their dwelling. The country is closely followed by Slovakia, Croatia and Hungary, with more than 90% of the people owning their homes in these member states. 

Rentals are most common in Switzerland and Germany, where more than half of the population are tenants. 

Across the bloc, more than two-thirds, 69% of the population owned their home, while the remaining 31% lived in rented housing in 2023. 

A house or a flat?

In the EU in 2023, more than half of the population lived in a house, with almost 48% dwelling in a flat, and a minor rate of 0.6% choosing an alternative type of accommodation, such as houseboats and vans.

Though the choice between a house or a flat could also be largely determined by whether the home is in a city or in the countryside, for the overall country comparison, Ireland was leading by far, with 90% of the population living in a house. 

The country with the second-most houses was the Netherlands (79%), while Belgium and Croatia (both 77%) shared the third place. 

Meanwhile, Spain had the highest share of flats (66%), followed by Latvia (65%, 2021 data), Malta (63%) and Germany (61%).

Where did people invest the most in properties?

People in Cyprus invested the equivalent of 8.6% of the country’s GDP in property last year, according to Eurostat. In Italy, this rate was 7%, slightly more than in Germany (6.9%) and France (6.4%).

The lowest rate was recorded in Poland (2.2% of the GDP) and Greece (2.3%).

The average investment in housing in the EU sat at 5.8% of GDP in 2023, roughly about one trillion euros.