Housing
Housing costs in the Grand Duchy were 87% above the average in the bloc last year
Housing in Luxembourg was the second most expensive in the EU last year compared to the EU average and the country's properties produced the most greenhouse gas emissions per person, a report by the bloc's official statistics agency Eurostat has found.
Housing costs in the Grand Duchy were 87% higher than the EU average last year, only trailing behind Ireland which was 94% more expensive, according to the report published on Thursday.
House prices have become more expensive generally in the EU since 2010, up by more than a third, with a particular spike noted between 2015 and 2021. Since 2018, housing prices in Luxembourg have increased by around 12% to 15% every year, reaching a maximum of 17% in 2020.
Prior to 2018, annual increases stood at around 4.5% to 5% a year, according to previous figures from the Observatoire de l’Habitat, which carries out housing research for the government.
The rise in property prices in Luxembourg has slowed somewhat in recent months, going up by 2.4% on average at the start of October compared to a year ago. The cost of existing properties is outpacing new builds as construction costs have soared and there have been delays in getting materials, real estate website atHome previously said.
Homes in Luxembourg produced the most greenhouse gas emissions per person in 2020, burning more than 1,500 kg per head for heating, preparing warm water, cooking and air conditioning, according to the Eurostat figures.
The Luxembourg total was more than twice the EU average of 675kg per capita for the year. Sweden produced the least greenhouse gas emissions with 30kg per person, followed by Malta, Portugal and Estonia.
Although 70% of people living in Luxembourg are homeowners – the same percentage as the EU average – 16 other EU countries had a higher share. The highest was Romania, where 95% of people own their home, followed by Hungary and Croatia. Germany was the only country to have an equal split of homeowners and tenants.
Less than 10% of the population in Luxembourg has been living in an overcrowded home over the past decade, below the EU average of between 17% and 19%. In Latvia and Romania more than 40% of residents were living in an overcrowded space.
In 2010, around three in every five people in Luxembourg were living in an under-occupied home, a property with more space than needed for the numbers living there.
This percentage has consistently dropped since then and now stands at 50%. The main reason homes are under-occupied is because people stay in their family home after their children have left, Eurostat said.
Across the EU around a third of people live in an under-occupied home, a figure which has remained stable since 2010, Eurostat data showed.
While Luxembourg was one of just five countries where nobody lived in a home without a toilet shower and a bath – alongside Germany, Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden – 15% of people lived with a leaking roof, slightly higher than the EU average. Only 3% of people were unable to adequately heat their homes – below the 7% EU average and much lower than in Bulgaria and Lithuania, where 24% and 23% respectively struggle to keep their homes warm enough.
Across the EU last year one in every 10 people was spending more than 40% of their disposable income on their home. In Luxembourg, just 8% of people living in one of the country's cities was paying this share for housing costs, while 4% of people living in rural areas were forking out that much.
Last year 3% of Luxembourg's GDP was invested in housing, below the 6% EU average. In 2020, there were more than 4,400 construction firms in the Grand Duchy with a total of more than 50,000 employees. France’s Île de France region, where Paris is located, had the highest number of builders with 605,000 staff in the industry.
