The prices of apartments and rents across Europe record a continuous increase, while the incomes of citizens do not follow the same pace.
New research by the HOUSE4ALL project shows that housing is increasingly difficult to afford, especially for young and single people in big cities.
Housing is becoming one of the biggest financial challenges for citizens across Europe, while the gap between wages and property prices continues to grow.
According to the data of the HOUSE4ALL project, which was developed at the Technical University of Vienna in cooperation with international partners, for the first time comparable data on the prices of renting and buying apartments in relation to the income of the population across Europe is available.
The results show that the problem is most pronounced in large cities and economic centers, where housing prices grow significantly faster than wages.
The greatest pressure is felt by young people who live alone and rent smaller apartments, where the price per square meter is the highest, reports Fena.
In many European countries, there is an increasingly pronounced trend of postponing independence, and some young people remain in their parents’ homes precisely because of high housing costs.
The highest prices are recorded in the main capitals and economic centers, but also in touristic and coastal regions, where additional pressure is created by short-term rentals and the purchase of vacation properties.
On the other hand, rural areas record lower prices, but also a drop in demand due to the emigration of the population.
Vienna stands out as an exception within the European framework, where a large proportion of city apartments and a regulated rental policy still enable relatively affordable housing prices.
The Viennese public housing model is often cited as an example of how active policy can influence the stability of the real estate market.
The research also points to an additional challenge: energy renovations of buildings, although necessary for climate goals, can lead to an increase in rents in the short term.
That phenomenon, known as “energy gentrification,” can drive lower-income tenants out of renovated buildings.
Rising housing costs are increasingly affecting political decisions in European countries, and it is expected that this topic will be one of the priorities of EU policies in the coming years, announced the Office of the City of Vienna in Sarajevo.
