In which EU countries are housing and utility prices the highest?

(Patria) - Property prices in the EU rose by 48 percent between 2010 and 2023, while housing costs, including rent, have surged in some member states, according to the latest report on housing in Europe published by Eurostat.

People in Ireland faced the highest housing costs, including water, electricity, and gas, in 2023, which was double the EU average, reports Euronews.rs.

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

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

Looking at price evolution, Eurostat notes that between 2010 and 2023, housing costs in Ireland increased by 17 percent above the EU average, to 101 percent, eventually doubling.

Costs increased in 17 member states during the same period, while they decreased in nine, including Greece, Cyprus, and Spain. Housing costs remained unchanged in Poland.

While housing crises plague various countries in Europe, including Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, the trend of surging property prices was slightly paused last year, when they fell by an average of 0.3 percent in Europe.

However, looking at the bigger picture, property prices have increased by 48 percent between 2010 and 2023 on average in the bloc, with the largest increases recorded in Estonia (+209 percent), Hungary (+191 percent), and Lithuania (+154 percent).

Property prices fell in only two member states (no data for Greece), in Italy and Cyprus by -8 percent and -2 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, rental costs have gradually increased, by a total of 22 percent in the period from 2010 to 2023, with almost all member states recording an increase, except for Greece.

Overall inflation in the EU for the same period was 36 percent.

However, there were also countries where rental prices rose far above the average. In Estonia, which recorded the largest increase in rental prices, the cost jumped by +211 percent, Lithuania saw a surge of +169 percent, and rent in Ireland doubled in the same period.

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

In Norway, Switzerland, and Germany, people spend approximately a quarter of their disposable income on housing.

For those who could be considered at risk of poverty in the EU, this rate was significantly higher, averaging 38.2 percent.

There is improvement, however, in the share of people accumulating debt on mortgages, rent, or utility bills – this rate in the EU decreased to 9.3 percent in 2023 from 12.4 percent in 2010, with only five member states recording any increase.

However, one country, Greece, significantly differs from this improving trend, where almost half of the population has some debt.

More than two-thirds of people living in households in the EU owned their home last year.

There are huge differences in the bloc when it comes to property ownership. In Romania, for example, more than 95 percent of the population owns their property. This country is neck and neck with Slovakia, Croatia, and Hungary, where more than 90 percent of people own their homes.

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

In the bloc, more than two-thirds, 69 percent of the population owned their home, while the remaining 31 percent lived in rented accommodation in 2023.

In the EU in 2023, more than half of the population lived in a house, while almost 48 percent lived in an apartment, and a small percentage of 0.6 percent opted for alternative accommodation types, such as houseboats and campers.

While the choice between a house and an apartment can be largely determined by whether the home is in a city or the countryside, when comparing countries, Ireland far leads, with 90 percent of the population living in a house.

The country with the second highest number of houses was the Netherlands (79 percent), while Belgium and Croatia (both 77 percent) shared third place.

Meanwhile, Spain had the largest share of apartments (66 percent), followed by Latvia (65 percent, data from 2021), Malta (63 percent), and Germany (61 percent).

People in Cyprus invested the equivalent of 8.6 percent of the country's GDP in real estate last year, according to Eurostat. In Italy, this rate was 7 percent, slightly higher than in Germany (6.9 percent) and France (6.4 percent).

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

The average investment in housing in the EU was 5.8 percent of GDP in 2023, which is approximately around one trillion euros.