05.01.2022
According to the “Housing in Europe” report published by Eurostat, Cyprus has the highest percentage of GDP invested in the housing sector compared to other EU member states.
In 2020, according to the report, 5.4% of the total EU GDP was invested in housing. Cyprus was first on the investment list with 7.6%, followed by Finland with 7.1% and Germany with 1.1%. At the other end of the scale, investments in Greece were 1.1%, Poland 2.0%, Ireland 2.1% and Slovenia 2.3%.
There are more houses in Cyprus than the EU average
Cyprus has the fourth largest house size with 2 rooms per person (EU average 1.6 rooms). Malta finished first with 2.3 numbers, followed by Belgium and Ireland with 2.1 numbers each.
The countries with the lowest number of rooms were Romania (1.1 rooms), Croatia, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia (all with 1.2 rooms on average per person).
Housing quality
The quality of housing can be measured in many ways. First, whether people live in a crowded house. In the EU, 17.8% of the population lived in overcrowded homes in 2020, a decline from 19.1% in 2010.
In 2020, the highest overcrowding rates were recorded in Romania (45.1%), Latvia (42.5%) and Bulgaria (39.5%), and the lowest in Cyprus (2.5%) and Malta (4 .2%).
32% of the EU population live in unoccupied homes. The classic cause of underemployment is the elderly or couples staying in their home after their children have grown up and moved away. In the EU, almost a third of the population (32.5%) lived in unoccupied homes in 2020, a proportion that has remained virtually unchanged since 2010.In 2020, the highest rates of unoccupied homes were recorded in Malta (72.5%), Cyprus (71.4%) and Ireland (63.3%), while the lowest rates were in Romania (7.1%), Latvia ( 10.3%) and Greece (11.0%).
When looking at the quality of housing, the report also took into account other aspects, including the ability to keep the house warm, the lack of a toilet and shower, and a leaky roof.
In the EU in 2020, 8.2% of the population was unable to keep their home warm enough. The highest rates were registered in Bulgaria (27.5%), Lithuania (23.1%), Cyprus (20.9%) and Portugal (17.5%), and the lowest in Austria (1.5%) , Finland (1.8%) and the Czech Republic (2.2%).
On average in the EU, 1.5% of the population does not have a toilet, shower or bath. It was most common in Romania (21.2% of the population), followed by Bulgaria and Latvia (7.0% each), and Lithuania (6.4%).
Roof leaking
The last aspect examined in the EU report under “Quality of Housing” was the percentage of people living in a house with a leaking room.
Judging by the number of emails that are received about this particular problem, it is not surprising that 39.1% of the population of Cyprus live in houses with leaky roofs; almost three times more than the EU average (13.1%).
Portugal came in second with 25.2% and Slovenia third with 20.8%.
Housing prices and rent
Since 2013, there has been a steady upward trend in house prices, with especially strong increases between 2015 and 2020. Overall, the increase was 26% between 2010 and 2020. missing) for this period.
The largest growth was registered in Estonia (+108%), Hungary (+91%), Luxembourg (+89%), Latvia (+81%) and Austria (+77%), while the decline was registered in Italy (-15% ). %), Spain (-5%) and Cyprus (-4%).
Between 2010 and 2020, the EU saw a steady rise in rents; 14% total for the entire period. An increase was recorded in 25 Member States and a decrease in two.
The largest growth was recorded in Estonia (+145%), Lithuania (+107%) and Ireland (+63%), while the decline was recorded in Greece (-25%) and Cyprus (-5%).
