At home in Europe: a RE/MAX study with exciting findings

A representative study on housing conditions and costs conducted by RE/MAX Europe in 16 European countries shows that 61% of Europeans own the house or apartment they live in. More than a third of the 8,000 respondents stated that they live in their own house, while 25% live in a condominium. The highest rates of homeownership are found in Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Italy; in contrast, the majority of Swiss, German, and Austrians live in rented accommodation.

Housing costs vary enormously

On average, Europeans spend 40% of their household income on housing (rent/mortgage payments, utilities, and heating). Housing costs vary widely among Europeans: while one in five spends a maximum of 20% of their income on housing, the top 9% have to spend over 70%. "Housing is most expensive in Spain and Greece, where the required income share for housing is 50%, but interestingly, it's also high in the Netherlands," explains Michael Polzler, CEO of RE/MAX Europe.

Housing is a family matter

The biggest differences lie in the question of who Europeans live with. The majority of respondents share an apartment or house with their partner, children, or parents. 15% live alone, primarily in Sweden, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In contrast, less than 5% of respondents in Slovakia or Turkey live alone. "Especially in southeastern European countries, young people live with their parents longer, while in northwestern European countries, young people are more likely to move out once they begin university or start their first job," says Polzler.

The population is feeling the effects of rising housing costs

The vast majority of Europeans are feeling the effects of rising rents. When it comes to overall living costs, Swedes are the most relaxed about it. Only 23% of them say that life in their country is expensive. In contrast, 66% of Swiss and 62% of Finns find their countries expensive. Across all countries, the survey reveals that "the older the respondents are, the more likely they are to perceive life as expensive," adds Polzler.

Ready for higher housing costs: only with improvements

On average, Europeans are willing to spend a maximum of 40% of their net income on housing. This is almost the same amount they currently spend. In Spain and the United Kingdom, residents are on average willing to spend 50% on housing, while in Switzerland and Slovakia the figure is 30%. At first glance, the upper limit of how much Europeans are willing to pay for housing seems to have been reached. However, the details of the study show that a higher willingness to pay exists when living conditions also improve significantly.

Survey details

RE/MAX Europe, Europe's leading real estate expert network with more than 20 years of market presence, commissioned this cross-border study for comparative purposes. For this study, 8,000 people aged between 20 and 59 in 16 different European countries (Austria, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey and the United Kingdom) were surveyed in January 2015 by the online research institute Marketagent.com.

The full study is available here.