Copenhagen

Copenhagen is in the grip of a deepening housing crisis, characterized by chronic shortages, accelerating prices, and low vacancy rates. The city needs nearly 50,000 new dwellings by 2025 to keep pace with demand, yet residential construction has slumped, with a 27% year-on-year decline in new completions in 2024. This gap between supply and population growth—Copenhagen’s population has risen 40% since 1995—fuels relentless price growth: apartment prices have doubled in the past decade, now averaging 2,500–2,970 euros per sqm to buy and 325–400 euros per sqm per year to rent for a typical apartment, with vacancy rates below 2% citywide.

Rental prices rose 4–6% between 2024 and 2025, and cumulative increases of 40–50% are projected by 2035 if current trends continue. The crisis disproportionately affects young people, students, and vulnerable groups, who face a shrinking pool of affordable options as renovations and “social mix” policies reduce the availability of low-cost flats. Lower social benefits for young adults (18–24) further limit their housing prospects, contributing to rising homelessness in this group.

Despite a sizable social housing sector (about 20% of stock), these units cannot meet all needs, leaving many lower- and middle-income residents priced out. The result is intense competition for rentals, high purchase prices, and a growing divide between those who can afford market rates and those who cannot. The crisis is most acute in central districts but extends to suburbs, affecting nearly all socioeconomic groups in Denmark’s largest city.

In Copenhagen, around 43% of residents live in rented homes, while home ownership rates are lower than in many other European capitals. Social (publicly owned, nonprofit) housing makes up about 20% of the total housing stock, providing regulated, below-market rents and is open to all, though up to 25% can be reserved for vulnerable groups such as refugees and the unemployed. This “social housing” is operated by nonprofit organizations and, unlike some other contexts, is not synonymous with public sector-owned housing; rather, it’s nonprofit but not municipally managed. Public/social housing thus plays a significant role in housing affordability but does not cover all lower-income needs.

Median rent for apartments in 2025 is approximately 325–400 euros per sqm per year (7,000–12,000 DKK per month for a studio, 9,000–18,000 DKK per month for 1–2 bedrooms), with vacancy rates under 2%. The median purchase price for apartments in Copenhagen is around 2,500–2,970 euros per sqm (18,500–22,000 DKK per sqm). Tight supply and price growth have made both renting and buying increasingly expensive. Housing shortages persist, especially in affordable segments, despite recent attempts to require up to 25% social housing in new developments.

The City of Copenhagen’s administration addresses affordable and sustainable housing through a mix of regulatory, financial, and planning initiatives, with ambitious targets and concrete programs supported by national and municipal cooperation. Recent targets include the creation of at least 4,000 new student housing units and over 8,000 new affordable and social housing units by 2031, plus a goal to allow more than 25% social housing in new developments where locally desired.

Key activities and programs include:

• Accelerating construction of social housing with a dedicated task force and streamlined planning processes.
• Major financial contributions via the Mixed Cities Fund: about 135 million euros for converting commercial or rental properties into social housing, and around 57 million euros for densifying existing social housing areas by subsidizing up to 20,000 euros per new home.
• Allocation of 13.4 million euros to support sustainable building solutions in social housing, and new regulations requiring maximum CO2 emissions for all new construction.
• Land purchase loans (240 million euros until 2031) to acquire sites in central districts for social and student housing.
• Major renovation schemes, co-financed by public-private partnerships, to increase energy efficiency by 30–40% and help maintain affordable rents.
• Specific plans for building a minimum of 15,000 sqm of public housing in special areas like Christiania.

These measures aim to combat both affordability pressures and carbon emissions, with cross-sector collaboration between nonprofit housing organizations, private developers, and the city government.