Eurostat defines the housing cost overburden rate as “the percentage of the population living in households where the total housing costs represent more than 40 % of disposable income.”
According to recent data, 10.4% of the EU population living in cities were touched by housing cost overburden in 2021. EU residents in rural areas were affected by housing cost overburden at a rate of 6.2% in the same year.
Cities in Greece (32.4%), Denmark (21.9%) and the Netherlands (15.3%) saw the highest rates of housing cost overburden in 2021. Comparatively in the same year, cities in Lithuania (1.6%), Malta (2.9%), and Hungary (3.1%) experienced the lowest rates.
Rural areas in the EU also experience housing cost overburden, with the highest rates seen in Greece (22.0 %), Bulgaria (13.3 %) and Romania (10.8 %). Rural areas in Cyprus (1.3%), Ireland (1.6%) and Hungary (2.2%) boasted the lowest rates in 2021.
Eurostat figures conclude that housing cost overburden was higher in cities than in rural areas in all EU countries with the exception of Croatia,Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania.
