According to Eurostat data, 96.1% of Romanians were living in dwellings they owned in 2014, this being the highest home ownership rate in the European Union. Only 3.9% of Romania’s population were tenants, way below the 29.9% average in the EU.

Slovakia comes next with a home ownership rate of 90.3%, followed by Lithuania with 89.9%, Croatia – 89.7%, and Hungary – 89.1%. Less than two-thirds of the population owned their dwelling in Germany - 52.5% and Austria - 57.2%, followed by Denmark - 63.3%, the United Kingdom -64.8%, and France - 65.1%.

At the EU level, 70.1% of the population were living in dwellings they owned in 2014.

Eurostat data also shows that more than half of Romania’s population were living in overcrowded houses (52.3%) in 2014. Romania also ranked first in this category, followed by Hungary - 44.6%, Poland - 44.2%, Bulgaria - 43.3%, Croatia - 42.1%, Latvia - 39.8%, and Slovakia - 38.6%. In the EU, 17.1% of the population were living in overcrowded households.

In terms of costs, 11.4% of EU’s population were facing housing cost overburden, which means that they spent more than 40% of their disposable income on housing. By countries, Greece ranks first with a share of 40.7%, followed at a distance by Germany - 15.9%, Denmark - 15.6%, the Netherlands - 15.4%, and Romania - 14.9%. On the other hand, Malta (1.6% of the total population), Cyprus (4%), France and Finland (both 5.1%) registered the lowest housing cost overburden rates.

Europeans’ ideal homes have 5 bedrooms. What do Romanians want?

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com