Greece Faces Severe Housing Pressures Despite High Ownership
Eurostat data reveals mounting housing challenges in Greece, where nearly 70% of residents live in a home they own yet a significant share struggle to afford basic energy needs. One in 5 people cannot heat their home during winter.
Housing related expenses have become one of the heaviest financial burdens in the country, with around 36% of households allocating more than half their disposable income to accommodation. In 2024, Greeks devoted roughly 70% of their income to costs such as rent or mortgage payments, electricity, water and heating fuels.
Cost of living variations between cities and rural areas remain unusually narrow in Greece, with only a 1% difference observed.
Homeownership Patterns Across the EU
Across the European Union in 2024, 68% of people lived in homes they owned while 32% were tenants. The highest homeownership rates appeared in Romania at 94%, Slovakia at 93%, Hungary at 92% and Croatia at 91%. Greece’s own rate approached 70%.
Renting remained more common than owning only in Germany, where 53% of the population lived in rented accommodation. Austria followed with 46% renters and Denmark with 39%.
Housing Costs Compared With EU Levels
Major disparities emerged between EU countries when comparing housing costs to the bloc’s average. Ireland recorded the highest relative costs in 2024 at 87% above the EU norm, followed closely by Denmark at 86% and Luxembourg at 78%. Greece stood at 70% above the EU average.
Bulgaria posted costs 38% below the EU average
Croatia recorded 44% below
Poland registered 49% below
Assessing Housing Affordability
Escalating home prices and rental costs have increased affordability pressures across Europe. One indicator of strain is the housing cost overburden rate measuring the share of people spending more than 40% of their disposable income on accommodation.
In EU cities in 2024, almost 10% of residents lived under such conditions, compared with 6% in rural areas. Greece registered the highest burden in both settings, reaching 29% in cities and 28% in rural regions.
A separate measure examining the share of disposable income spent on housing showed EU households allocating 19% on average. Greece again ranked highest at 36%, followed by Denmark at 26% and Sweden and Germany at 25%. Cyprus recorded the lowest level at 11%.
People with incomes below 60% of the national median spent an average of 37% of their earnings on housing across the EU in 2024.
Those earning above that threshold faced a lower share at 16%.
Housing Quality Indicators
Overcrowding remains a key measure of living conditions. In 2024, 17% of EU residents lived in overcrowded housing, down from 19% in 2010. Warmth is another essential aspect of quality, and 9% of EU residents could not keep their home adequately heated.
Both Bulgaria and Greece recorded the highest difficulty in heating at 19%, followed by Lithuania and Spain at 18%. Finland, Slovenia and Poland posted rates below 3%.
Trends in Home Prices, Rents and Inflation
Home prices across the EU rose steadily between 2013 and 2022, including annual surges of 8% in both 2021 and 2022. Prices dipped slightly by 0.3% in 2023 before rising 3% in 2024. Over the period from 2010 to 2024, prices increased by a total of 53%.
Hungary saw the steepest price growth at 231%
Estonia followed at 228%
Lithuania recorded 179%
Rents climbed 25% across the EU during the same period, though Greece was the only country to experience a decrease, dropping 16%. Estonia, Lithuania, Ireland and Hungary observed the fastest rental increases.
Inflation reached 39% across the EU from 2010 to 2024. Hungary experienced the highest rise at 86%, while Greece remained among the lowest at 20% alongside Cyprus at 23% and Ireland at 24%.
