In EU nations, 68% of households dwell in their very own residence | EUROtoday

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In some circumstances it’s a dream come true, in others an issue as a result of discovering a home to lease or purchase just isn’t at all times simple. A undeniable fact that round a 3rd of households residing in EU nations should take care of. In 2024, as highlighted by Eurostat, greater than two thirds, the proportion is, on common, 68% owned their very own residence. This is down barely from 69% in 2023. The remaining 32% lived in rented lodging, in comparison with 31% the earlier yr.

In the whole image, the best determine was recorded in Romania the place 94% of the inhabitants owned a home, adopted by Slovakia with 93% and Hungary 92%. «Owning a house was extra widespread in all EU nations, besides Germany, the place – underlines Eurostat – renting predominated with 53% of the inhabitants being tenants. Germany was adopted by Austria with 46% and Denmark with 39%.”

Italy takes an average position: in owning the house, as emerges from Ifel data (the Institute for Finance and Local Economy of the Anci) based on Istat and Mef-Revenue Agency, 55% of Italian families live in a home of their own, compared to 47% in France and 41% in Germany.

In the European context there are also differences in how people live and what accommodation they own or rent. Reading the data relating to the housing sector it emerges that in 2024, 51% of the population lived in a house while 48% in apartments and 1% in various accommodations including houseboats and campers. Then there is another aspect which concerns the size of the houses. On average 1.7 rooms per person. Among EU countries, the largest number was recorded in Malta with 2.2 rooms per person, followed by Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands with 2.1 rooms. At the other end of the scale Slovakia and Romania both have 1.1 rooms. Despite the high presence of home ownership in Europe, there is also another aspect: in 17% of cases the homes are overcrowded. Not only that, 33% were in an underoccupied house, i.e. too large for the needs of the family present. Situations which, in most cases, see elderly people remaining in their homes after their children have left.

The Italian case

As regards Italy, there’s one other facet: it’s the European nation with the best variety of empty houses. Italy, actually, has 27.3% of unoccupied houses, a price 3 times increased than France (7.8%) and 6 occasions increased than Germany (4.4%), which translated into absolute numbers is 9.5 million houses out of 35 million registered. The best variety of unoccupied lodging is within the South the place a proportion of 40% is recorded in Reggio Calabria, and 39% in Messina.