The effects of the housing crisis are felt throughout the EU

The rising prices of housing and the cost of building fresh properties, the deficiency of fresh resources and the deteriorating conditions of housing, the costly rents and the besides dynamic improvement of short-term rental – are any of the problems of the housing marketplace facing EU countries. Although these problems vary from country to country, the EU institutions are already speaking widely about the housing crisis. The European Commission has completed its work on a Community plan to address these issues.

"The housing crisis in the European Union is simply a subject that has emerged very powerfully in the last 2 years. Last January, a peculiar committee was launched in Parliament to deal with him. Discussions there are highly lively and are very interested. Members, representatives of committees, but besides experts, experts from different countries – Says Newseria agency Agnieszka Walter-Drop, Director-General for Cohesion, Agriculture and Social Policy in the European Parliament.

According to data from the Council of the European Union in October 2025, housing prices in Europe have increased by around 60% on average over the last decade. In many countries the increase was more than double, e.g. in Poland it reached 113 percent, in the Netherlands – 110 percent, in Portugal and Lithuania – 147 percent, in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic – by more than 135 percent. The evidence holder is Hungary – almost 238 percent from 2015 to the first 4th of 2025. Only in Finland have prices not changed (-0.4%). However, costly properties are not the only problem. There are besides housing shortages and advanced costs of building new, low quality existing housing resources (e.g. low energy efficiency).

The rental marketplace is besides changing to a disadvantage, which is being decided by more and more people incapable to afford to buy their own M. This creates expanding force on rent increases, especially in large cities and fast-growing regions. The analysis of the EU Council shows that in any capitals, rental prices have repeatedly exceeded the increase in rents at national level. This included, among others, Lisbon, Dublin, Madrid and Stockholm.

Financial institutions are increasingly present in the rental market, which makes housing increasingly regarded as financial assets or investment instruments. On the another hand, a dynamic short-term rental reduced the availability of homes and apartments in the long-term rental marketplace in key tourist destinations.

"The problems with housing are different in different parts of Europe, but they are very noticeable everywhere. These may be problems with the real property market, with speculation on it or with the popularity of tourism, which is becoming more and more massive and wants to usage the housing resources in the region. This is what we see in cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Ljubljana, Prague. This causes the centres to depopulate on the 1 hand, and on the another hand average people, but besides those who could work in manufacture or in services in a given country have no place to live – Considers Agnieszka Walter-Drop.

According to the European Parliament, a full of 854.1 million overnight stays were booked in the EU in 2024 through 4 large online platforms (Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group and Tripadvisor). That's 18 percent more than a year ago. The biggest interest in short-term accommodation was in August 2024 (152.2 million), with major cities specified as Paris (23.5 million), Rome (15.7 million), Barcelona (12.5 million), Madrid (11.8 million) and Lisbon (11.3 million).

“There is simply a question of how the regulated short rental marketplace will be, what support for social housing will be, what the structure of support for young families will look like, what the issue of housing for students will look like. In many places students have no place to live due to the fact that it is besides costly – emphasises the Director-General for Cohesion, Agriculture and Social Policy in the European Parliament.

The latest Eurostat figures show that in 2024, 26.5% of young people aged 15 to 29 lived in overcrowded housing in the EU. For the full population, this percent was 16.9 percent. In addition, 9.7 percent lived in households that spent 40% or more of their disposable income on housing.

– There is besides a question of how we can aid the construction industry. In many countries, unchangeable support instruments are needed, better regulation of the public procurement market, ensuring a sustainable income position for the sector. – this is Agnieszka Walter-Drop. – Another thing is to regulate the movement of capital, which is related to speculation in the real property market. In any places, we see that there is simply a massive investment in housing, not necessarily to guarantee that the flat is offered to the apartment, but to treat it investmently.

The Head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her message on the state of the Union in September this year announced the preparation of a European plan for affordable housing. This is the first specified initiative in the EU. As she stressed, the housing crisis is simply a social crisis that weakens cohesion and threatens competitiveness. It besides affects the fact that young people postpone their family. As announced, housing is to be more affordable, more balanced and better quality. Ursula von der Leyen stressed that changes to the State aid rules were needed to let housing support measures to be applied, facilitate the construction of fresh housing and student housing, and regulate short-term rental. For next year, the EC plans to convene the first European Union summit on housing.

– Parliament puts it very powerfully as a task for the Commission to come up with an action plan on housing in mid-December of this year says the typical of the European Parliament. – The discussion on the possible resolution of the housing crisis in the Union is at an first stage. The function of the European Parliament is not only to negociate hard at the very end, erstwhile we know whether to decision this billion there or elsewhere, but to be inactive at the preliminary phase erstwhile proposals are being drawn up. I want that the voice of Poland was better heard here.