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Homeownership is becoming harder to achieve across Europe, with renting no longer just a temporary phase but a permanent reality for many households, according to a new study.
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The Forever Renter Global Index examined housing data across 39 OECD countries tracking where permanent renting is most common. European nations make up 28 of the 39 countries in the study, meaning 71.8% of the dataset.
This concentration puts European housing under a microscope, tracking critical metrics like renter shares, homeownership rates, rent costs, crowding, and how fast property prices have outpaced local wages since 2015.
The European landscape
Western and Northern European countries lead the index with some of the highest renter shares in the study.
Switzerland records the highest renter share globally at 61.2%, closely followed by Germany where 55.4% of the population rents.
Denmark claims the index’s top overall rank with a score of 67.2 out of 100, maintaining a relatively even split of a 47.5% renter share and a 52.2% homeownership rate. Meanwhile in Luxembourg, renters account for just 36.0% of households while homeowners make up 62.3%.
Other Nordic and Western European countries face compounding financial pressures alongside these structural tenancy levels. Finland and Sweden report renter shares of 38.1% and 38.9% respectively, but both contend with severe rent burdens and structural crowding constraints.
In Southern Europe, Portugal maintains a high homeownership rate of 72.1%, with rental properties in short supply, yet suffers from severe wage decoupling where property prices have climbed 48.8% faster than local wages since 2015, driving its price-to-income index to 148.8.
In Central and Eastern Europe, Slovakia and Romania post massive homeownership rates exceeding 92% —with Slovakia at 93.5% and Romania at 92.8% —with renting making up less than 5%.
However, as regional data indicates, this widespread property acquisition frequently masks underlying economic strain, trading high tenant mobility for rigid, multi-generational housing environments.
The hidden cost of ownership
High homeownership rates do not automatically translate to more comfortable living conditions. While Central and Eastern European countries boast ownership rates exceeding 90% —such as Slovakia at 93.5% and Romania at 92.8%—they frequently record severe spatial strains.
Countries such as Latvia and Bulgaria report overcrowding as affecting 30% or more of their populations, with multiple family generations forced to live together under the same roof.
In contrast, renter-heavy nations in Western and Northern Europe offer larger living spaces per household, showing that renting can afford people a more comfortable home than if they bought their own.
The global context
Across Anglosphere markets like the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, rental populations make up 30-40%, with high costs, mortgage swings, and large down payments delaying homeownership for younger generations.
Further south, in markets like Colombia, renter shares sit high at nearly 41% as rapid urban densification drives a strong rental culture.
Yet elsewhere in the broader Americas, nations like Chile and Costa Rica tilt heavily toward high ownership rates, mirroring cultural priorities seen across Southern and Eastern Europe where family-backed property acquisition remain the primary vehicle for wealth accumulation.
In Chile specifically, a high overall homeownership rate conceals a stark affordability divide; while older generations benefit from historical state-backed property policies, younger urban workers face severe hurdles that trap them in long-term renting because independent home purchases have gone entirely out of reach.
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