In all Member States, owning is most common. However, in Germany, renting is almost equal with 49 % of the population being tenants. Austria (45 %) and Denmark (39 %) follow.

In Cyprus, this rate is 67.9 % vs 32.1 % and in Greece 75.4 % vs 24.6 %.

Living in a house or a flat also differs among the Member States, and also varies depending on whether you live in a city or the countryside. In the EU in 2019, 53 % of the population lived in a house, while 46 % lived in a flat (1 % lived in other accommodation, such as houseboats, vans etc.). Ireland (92 %) recorded the highest share of the population living in a house, followed by Croatia and Belgium (both 78 %) and the Netherlands (75 %). It should be noted that this includes terraced houses. In Cyprus 72.1 % lives in houses and 24.6 % in apartments.

Houses are most common in two thirds of the Member States. The highest shares for flats were observed in Latvia (66 %), Spain (65 %), Estonia (61 %) and Greece (59 % vs 40.7 % in houses).

In cities, 72 % of the EU population lived in a flat and 28 % in a house. For towns and suburbs, the proportions were 58 % and 42 % respectively, while for rural areas, 82 % of the population lived in a house and only 18 % in a flat.

Looking at the trend of house prices between 2010 and 2019, there has been a steady upwards trend since 2013 with particularly large increases between 2015 and 2019. In total there was an increase of 19 % between 2010 and 2019. There were increases in 23 Member States and decreases in three (data for Greece not available) over this period. The largest increases were observed in Estonia (+96 %), Hungary (+82 %), Latvia (+75 %), Luxembourg and Austria (both +65 %), while decreases were registered in Italy (-17 %), Spain (-7 %) and Cyprus (-4 %).

There has been a steady increase of rents in the EU between 2010 and 2019 – in total 13 % during the whole period. There was an increase in 25 Member States and a decrease in two. The largest increases were registered in Estonia (+156 %), Lithuania (+101 %) and Ireland (+63 %), while decreases were observed in Greece (-25 %) and Cyprus (-7 %).

Looking at the evolution between 2010 and 2019, house price levels compared to the EU average have increased in 17 Member States and decreased in 10. The largest increases were observed in Ireland (from 17 % above to 77 % above the EU average), Slovakia (from 44 % below to 23 % below) and the Netherlands (from 22 % above to 37 % above), and the largest decreases in Greece (from 8 % below to 35 % below the EU average) and Cyprus (from 8 % below to 25 % below).

Source: Cyprus Mail