Why all European countries are faced with a sharp rise in rental prices

Prices for rented apartments in Europe are breaking records, and there is an acute shortage of such housing. Bloomberg understood the reasons.

The publication quotes Christine Whitehead, professor of economics at the London School of Economics:

“Rent is rising, and this makes life especially difficult for people who do not have apartments in the inheritance.”

And all because rising mortgage rates have forced many to refuse to buy real estate, and the demand for rent has increased. The situation is also influenced by the migration of European specialists – after the coronavirus pandemic, many of them decided to move to Berlin, Paris, Dublin, Lisbon and raised the level of competition for rental housing.

The trend of skyrocketing rents is exacerbated by the small size of European cities, with a high concentration of historic and low-rise buildings.

Social inequality is growing in countries, and experts are calling on governments to take urgent measures – after all, Europeans who rent housing spend most of their salaries on rent.

Particularly acute is the housing shortage in Amsterdam, notes Bloomberg, which was facilitated by an increased influx of foreigners into this city. In 2022 alone, 18,000 people moved there. However, the situation is similar in other cities. The population of Dublin, Ireland’s capital, for example, has increased by 12% in ten years.

In Zurich, Switzerland, the vacancy rate for rental space is only 0.07 percent, and waiting lists for viewing properties sometimes reach more than 100 people. And that’s not all: for those who want to rent an apartment, it has become the norm to bring letters of recommendation, bank statements, HR contacts and … wine and chocolate as a gift to potential landlords.

In some Eastern European cities, housing shortages and skyrocketing rents are exacerbated by an influx of refugees from Ukraine. In Estonia, for example, prices for rented apartments increased by 22% last year.

Earlier, our publication told how, over the past 2-3 years, prices for rent in Greece increased sharply, which, together with rising prices for food and essential goods, leads to the fact that many Greeks cannot find housing and remain in their parents’ homes until the age of 40.

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