Where are the most expensive apartments in Europe?

New data shows where housing is the most expensive in Europe and where people are willing to pay more for it. What's happening in Slovenia?
According to the Resolution Foundation, residents of Finland pay the most for housing, followed by the British.

A British think tank found that residents of Finland spend 24 percent of their total expenses on housing, much higher than the EU average of 15 percent.

The data combined the value of rent actually paid with an estimate of what landlords would pay if they rented out their apartment on the open market - known as "imputed rent".

In contrast, Poland's share of housing costs is the lowest of all OECD countries, at 6 percent of spending.

Where are housing prices highest?
House prices are highest in the UK, followed by New Zealand, Australia and Ireland in relation to the overall price level in the country. According to Euronews, Poland and Greece are rated well below the OECD average.

In Europe, house prices have risen the most in Turkey, with data showing that house prices there are 12 times higher in nominal terms than nine years ago. Thus, an apartment in Istanbul can compete with Paris and London, which are known for their high prices.

Among OECD countries, the smallest price changes were recorded in Nordic countries such as Sweden and Finland, where nominal house prices have risen by more than 4 percent since 2015.

Turkey is followed by Hungary, where prices are 166 percent higher than in 2015.

Fighting rising housing prices

Due to rising house prices and rents, which are mainly the result of increased demand from foreign buyers and continued economic growth, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Greeks to access real estate.

A recent Euronews opinion poll found that tackling rising prices is the biggest issue facing voters in the upcoming European elections, with 68 percent of respondents citing it as a priority.

There is also a crisis in Slovenia - only a few can afford real estate, and politics has not done anything tangible for decades.
The Youth Council of Slovenia has launched a propaganda campaign on housing issues for young people, “Nimam Kam”. The campaign will highlight the challenges young people face in this area of social media. In recent years, housing has become the most pressing issue for young people, they emphasized.

As the youth council wrote in a press release, from 2015 to 2022, property prices across the country increased by 72.56 percent. This, they say, is all the more concerning because revenue growth has been much lower.

The need for non-commercial apartments is approximately 10 thousand apartments, but this figure only includes applicants who in recent years have applied for competitions for the allocation of non-commercial apartments and are eligible for them, but remained on the waiting lists, they explained.

“The fact is that the average young person who supports himself through his own labor cannot buy an apartment, and it is very difficult to pay market rent,” they emphasized.

In addition, in some areas there are simply no apartments for rent, even if in 2018 there were 152,280 empty apartments in Slovenia and this figure has not changed significantly in recent years, they added.

However, it's not just young people who suffer from high prices in the property market: high property prices and high rents are becoming a growing problem for older people too.