A broken
housing market is driving inequality right across Europe – and fuelling the far
right
Kirsty Major
From Lisbon
to Amsterdam, housing policy has led to haves and have-nots. But, as our new
series uncovers, it doesn’t have to be this way
Thu 26 Jun
2025 10.00 BST
Housing is
as personal an issue as it gets. Homes are where we take refuge from the
outside world, express ourselves, build relationships and families. To buy or
rent a house is to project your aspirations and dreams on to bricks and mortar
– can we see ourselves sitting outside in the sunshine on that patio? It can
also be a deeply frustrating process – can we afford that house? For more and
more of us, the answer is no.
Experienced
at such an individual level, it’s easy to think that rising costs are a problem
particular to your community, city or country. But unaffordable house prices
and rents are a continent-wide issue. According to the European Parliament,
from 2015 to 2023, in absolute terms, house prices in the EU rose by just under
50% on average. From 2010 to 2022, rents rose by 18%.
As an
editor, I wanted to know some of the stories behind these stats and, as a
person who lives in a very expensive city (hello from London!), hear some
solutions. I commissioned a range of housing experts to contribute to a series,
The housing crisis in Europe, describing what the situation looks like in some
of Europe’s most expensive cities.
Agustín
Cocola-Gant writes about how changes to policy after the 2008 financial crisis
encouraged wealthy foreigners to buy second homes or short-term rentals in
Lisbon, pricing locals out of their city. Now some Portuguese families rent
rooms, not flats.
In a
reversal of roles, it’s the newcomers who have it worse in Amsterdam, according
to Amber Howard. Older, long-term residents live in secure and affordable
social housing while younger people and recent arrivals, often on lower
incomes, are left to the costly and insecure private housing sector. While
social housing stock has dropped over time, private stock has increased as
politicians sought to encourage wealthier residents to move into the city.
It’s a
similar story in Budapest, says Csaba Jelinek. Social housing was sold off
after the end of the cold war, and private ownership was championed as a
rejection of socialist values. What this has meant in practice is older
Hungarians investing in housing and driving up prices and rents for younger
generations.
One city not
facing an affordability crisis is Vienna. As Justin Kadi writes, since the
1920s the city has had a stable stock of social housing for tenants of all
incomes. Like in Amsterdam, newcomers rent privately, but social housing has
had a damping effect on rents.
You don’t
need to be a housing expert to see the dynamics playing out in Europe’s housing
market. Over more than 40 years, housing policy has favoured those who invest
in homes at the expense of those who live in them. This power imbalance is at
its most stark in countries with big institutional investors – such as private
equity, hedge, insurance and pension funds – as Tim White explores in his
piece.
Clockwise
from top left, private house sales and rentals in London; an office block
transformed into apartments in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France; Golden Lane Estate
in London, 1964; the school assembly hall in the new town of Houlton, Rugby;
Goldsmith Street council-owned energy-efficient homes in Norwich; Ash
Sakula-designed timber housing in Lewes, Sussex
When houses
are not homes but assets, there is a transfer of wealth from those who have not
to those who have. Across Europe – and much of the rest of the world – property
has become a driving force of inequality. In turn, inequality is a driving
force of resentment. Far-right politicians have tapped into this anger for
their own political gain, as reported by the Guardian in a previous series of
reports from the frontlines of Europe’s housing crisis. As the European
commissioner for jobs and social rights, Nicolas Schmit, commented: “The
housing problem divides our societies, and it may be a risk for our
democracies.”
Housing
policies are set at a national level, but the European Union can set frameworks
and support access to finance. In 2024, all housing ministers from member
states signed a declaration calling for a “new deal” on affordable and social
housing.
There are
solutions, and there is political will, and in the meantime let’s hope this
series will go some way to helping those who face unaffordable housing across
Europe realise they’re not alone.
Kirsty Major
is a deputy Opinion editor for the Guardian
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