The Housing Crisis In Europe

Every day I walk—taking the kids to school, heading to work—and as I move about, I look at the buildings and houses, stopping to check the prices of apartments for sale and rent. The dramatic issue here is how prices have skyrocketed while wages haven't budged. I was hired to teach online, and for four hours of class plus two hours of prep and grading—time obviously not included in the pay—I received 100 euros.

And bear in mind, I’ve been teaching since graduating from university nearly twenty years ago. The terrible thing isn't just that I’m getting older—though that does scare me, especially knowing my pension as a teacher will be among the worst—but rather that buying an apartment feels increasingly like an impossible dream.

Taking out a mortgage would mean being in debt until the day I die, which certainly doesn't appeal to me. So, the central, serious issue is that housing in Europe is becoming more expensive by the day; we’re talking about cities where prices have surged by as much as 160%, yet I don't see wages rising anywhere near that much. The problem isn't just the small minority who can afford the higher costs; it’s the fact that prices keep climbing while salaries stay flat. If you don't own a home and need to buy one, you might be better off seeing what you could get for a kidney—it seems like an easier way to pay for it than through honest work these days.

Yes. The issue of high rents in Europe goes far beyond simple rent increases: it involves the relationship between rents and income, housing shortages, the concentration of demand in cities, a slowdown in new construction, tourism and short-term rentals, the availability of social housing, and the impact on young people and families.

During the last 5 years and after the COVID, housing prices increased by about 53%, while general inflation stood at 39%. The trend was not uniform. Between 2010 and 2024, the sharpest rent increases occurred in:

• Estonia: +208%
• Lithuania: +177%
• Ireland: +108%
• Hungary: +107%

In contrast, rents in Greece fell by 16% between 2010 and 2024. However, this does not automatically mean that housing has become easily affordable; the problem in Greece becomes very clear when looking at the ratio of housing costs to income.

And the pressure did not stop in 2024.

In the first quarter of 2026, EU rents were still 3.0% higher than in the same quarter of 2025.
The real issue is not just "how much the rent costs."
A rent of €1,000 might be relatively manageable for a household with an income of €5,000, yet completely unaffordable for someone earning €1,500.

In 2025, 7.7% of the EU population lived in a household that spent at least 40% of its disposable income on housing.
However, the European average masks vast disparities. Thus, simply speaking of "high rents" is an oversimplification: the real issue is housing affordability relative to income. The poor are hit much harder.
This is where perhaps the most socially significant aspect of the crisis comes to light.
In 2024, according to Eurostat, European households spent an average of about 19% of their disposable income on housing.
But for individuals with incomes below 60% of the national median, that figure rose to approximately 37%.
In other words: the lower the income, the greater the share of that income that must be spent on housing. The distinction is fundamental because a person who buys a home can, in the long run, transform part of their housing expenditure into asset accumulation.
A tenant, on the other hand, continues to bear the cost of housing without necessarily building up an asset.

Furthermore, the fact that a large portion of the funds used to build these apartments—including luxury units—goes into projects effectively places them out of reach for low and middle-income families.

They are also often geared toward generating profit through short-term rentals and tourism.
This can remove a portion of the housing stock from the residential market in specific cities and neighborhoods.
However, they are not the primary cause of the European housing crisis as a whole; their impact varies enormously from city to city. Then there is the absurdity of empty homes—apartments and even entire buildings—sitting idle and unusable due to feuds between relatives and heirs. Finally, there is the issue of social housing: despite increases, it still accounts for only about 7% of the total need. Consequently, those living with their parents rarely leave the family nest; without a home of their own, people do not get married—let alone have children—bringing us back to a problem I have written about before: the low birth rate.

As a result, buying a home is becoming increasingly out of reach; consequently, everyone opts to rent, driving up rental prices. Meanwhile, those unable to pay face situations like that of Maricarmen in Madrid or the various cases of evicted families living in their cars in Italy—all of which increasingly highlight a problem that grows larger by the day: the housing crisis.