Resource overview
This study, “Policies to Ensure Access to Affordable Housing”, was prepared for the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies (Quality of Life Policies) at the request of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL). The external authors are Dovydas Caturianas, Piotr Lewandowski, Jakub Sokołowski, Zuzanna Kowalik, and Egidijus Barcevičius. It reviews housing affordability conditions in EU Member States, the policy landscape at national and EU level, and options to improve access to affordable housing.
How affordability is measured and where pressures are highest
The report highlights that housing affordability is defined differently across Member States and institutions, but points to a commonly used indicator: Eurostat’s housing cost overburden rate, defined as the share of people living in households that spend 40% or more of equivalised disposable income on housing. Across the EU-27, the average overburden rate stayed around 10% between 2010 and 2018, but the situation varies substantially by country. Overburden rates tend to be lower in many Northern European and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, while higher burdens are reported in Germany, Denmark and Bulgaria, and the challenge is described as particularly acute in Greece and parts of the Balkans.
Disproportionate impacts on low-income households and worsening conditions
The study finds that housing affordability has deteriorated in recent years, especially for low-income owners and private renters. In 2018, nearly 38% of households at risk of poverty spent more than 40% of their disposable income on housing, compared to 10.2% of the general population in EU Member States. The report also notes worsening housing conditions and access to decent housing for low-income groups over recent decades. It emphasizes that measuring homelessness consistently across the EU is difficult due to the lack of a single widely adopted definition, yet available evidence indicates that homelessness has increased over the last decade in a number of EU countries.
Drivers of rising costs: financialisation, investment dynamics, and short-term rentals
A central theme is the “financialisation” of housing—treating homes increasingly as financial assets or commodities. The report links this to stronger integration with, and dependence on, general financial markets, particularly mortgage finance. It also describes secondary property ownership as a widespread investment strategy in many Member States, used by households to supplement absent or low second-tier pension arrangements. In addition, the authors cite evidence that foreign investment can raise local house prices and reduce homeownership rates, especially where housing supply responds slowly to price changes. Another pressure identified is the expansion of short-term accommodation platforms (e.g., Airbnb, HomeAway), which can shift homes from long-term residents to visitors, reduce local housing supply, raise costs, and contribute to gentrification in central urban areas.
Policy trends and tools highlighted in the review
The overview of national policies points to declining public expenditure on supply-side measures (such as developing social/affordable housing) alongside increased spending on demand-side measures (social welfare-type payments). The report notes expert concerns that demand-side interventions can feed into higher local housing prices rather than improve affordability for low- and middle-income households. By contrast, recurring immovable property taxes (annual taxes linked to property value) are presented as an increasingly used measure to curb speculation, reduce vacancy, and support supply. 🇪🇺 EU role: indirect levers, exemptions, and “soft power” initiatives Although housing policy is not an EU competence, the report outlines multiple indirect EU influences through state aid, fiscal and competition frameworks, and through recommendations and guidelines. It notes that social housing can be treated as a Service of General Economic Interest (SGEI) under the 2012 SGEI package and is exempt from some state aid notification requirements, but the exemption is limited to “disadvantaged citizens or socially less advantaged groups”, which stakeholders argue can restrict broader provision. The study also references EU-level initiatives such as the European Pillar of Social Rights (Principle 19), the European Semester (with limited housing-focused recommendations), and the Housing Partnership Action Plan, as well as impacts from ESF and ERDF-funded projects (including housing access for vulnerable groups and improvements to housing quality and energy efficiency).