Information on data
Housing is a broad topic which can be approached, analysed, and discussed from many different angles. It is therefore important that housing statistics provide comprehensive information on the various dimensions of this topic.
The data presented in this section come from different statistical domains and sources. They cover multiple aspects, such as availability, affordability, quality, environment, sustainability, construction, prices and distribution. These data provide insights into the housing market, people’s living conditions, demographic trends, and economic impacts.
Economy and finance
This sub-topic provides information on housing for 2 main areas:
Price statistics are sub-divided into 4 main topics:
Housing price statistics
Housing price statistics provide 2 indicators relevant for the topic of housing:
- quarterly house price index (HPI), which measures changes in the transaction prices of residential properties purchased by households
- owner-occupied housing price index (OOHPI), which measures the changes in the transaction prices of dwellings purchased for own-use and the cost of all goods and services that households purchase in their role as owner-occupiers of dwellings.
House sales and affordability
These statistics complement housing price statistics by highlighting both transaction activity and the financial accessibility of housing. They provide the following relevant information:
- data on house sales showing changes in the number and value of housing transactions made by households
- data on the standardised house price-to-income ratio measuring affordability as the ratio of the current price-to-income level to its long-term average.
Harmonised index of consumer prices
The harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) is a measure of inflation that is comparable across countries. Inflation is the change over time in the prices paid by households for consumer goods and services.
Within the HICP classification of products, 3 categories relate to housing:
- actual rentals for housing
- maintenance and repair of the dwelling
- water supply and miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling.
Purchasing power parities
Purchasing power parities (PPPs) are indicators of price level differences across countries at a given time. They inform how many currency units a given quantity of goods and services costs in different countries.
For housing, the product categories ‘Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ and ‘Residential buildings’ provide relevant information for housing.
National accounts provide information to analyse the structure of economies and their development over time. They contain a wide range of statistics describing a country's economy.
The most relevant indicators for housing are:
- investment in housing
- gross value added of the construction sector
- capital stock of dwellings
- household expenditure on actual and imputed rents and other housing related categories
- production and income component for imputed rents of owner-occupied dwellings; this refers to code L68A of the statistical classification of economic activities (NACE).
Population and social conditions
The EU population and housing censuses provide detailed information on persons as well as on dwellings, buildings, and housing arrangements. The decennial census provides a precise and geographically detailed count of the population on different geographical levels. Data is available at national, regional, and local levels.
The census data related to housing offer information about a wide range of housing characteristics as well as characteristics of persons and their housing arrangements. Data can be cross tabulated in very detailed ways and are available for different geographical levels.
An example: the occupancy status of a conventional dwelling can be cross tabulated with the type of building in which that dwelling is located for the geographical level of municipalities. For more details, please consult our full description of possible cross-tabulations.
In addition, census data available on 1km2 grids are instrumental for analysing demographic aspects at local level to better understand housing needs and demand.
Furthermore, the Census dwelling grid, which was developed in collaboration between the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and Eurostat, provides the total number of conventional dwellings in Europe recorded in the 2021 census at a spatial resolution of 1km2.
The European labour force survey (EU-LFS) is the largest household survey in Europe, aiming to categorise people into 3 mutually exclusive groups: employed, unemployed, and those outside the labour force.
The most relevant indicators for housing are:
- quarterly and annual data of employed persons in construction and the construction of buildings sectors
- annual data of employed persons in the construction sector at regional level.
The EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) provide over 100 indicators related to housing, including aspects like affordability, cost, living space, environmental quality, energy use and costs, utility expenses, and discrimination.
EU-SILC provides data by age, sex, household type, poverty status, tenure status, disability, education level, activity status, region, degree of urbanisation.
The household budget survey focusses on households' expenditure on goods and services and provides data on household expenditure related to housing. It is conducted every 5 years.
Within the classification of individual consumption by purpose, the main expenditure categories relevant for housing are:
- rentals for housing
- maintenance and repair of the dwelling
- water supply
- electricity, gas and other fuels
Data is also available for more detailed sub-categories.
Businesses
Short-term business statistics (STS) are the earliest statistics released by Eurostat to show emerging trends in the European economy.
For housing, 3 indicators are relevant:
- construction production: this indicator presents the change in the output of construction activities. The index is published monthly or quarterly. Based on the monthly and quarterly data, annual indices are calculated.
- construction producer prices of new residential buildings: this indicator presents the producer prices of new residential buildings. It is published quarterly, and annual data is also available. Some countries voluntarily collect and publish monthly data.
- building permits for residential buildings: data are published as nominal index of the number of dwellings and useful floor area. It is published quarterly, and annual data is also available. In addition, data are published in absolute values (square metres), which are used to calculate the useful floor area per inhabitant.
Structural business statistics (SBS) and on business demography provide information about enterprises that build or refurbish houses.
For housing, relevant economic activities, based on the classes of the statistical classification of economic activities (NACE), are:
- construction of buildings
- development of building projects
- construction of residential and non-residential building
- building completion and finishing.
For those economic activities, the following indicators are relevant:
- number of enterprises, value added, value of output, turnover, investment, and outputs (based on SBS)
- number and employment in new (respectively closed) enterprise, enterprises surviving the first 5 years, enterprises with high growth (based on business demography)
Tourism refers to the activity of people traveling to a place outside their usual environment for less than a year, for leisure, visiting friends and relatives, or professional purpose.
Eurostat publishes experimental data on short-term accommodation offered via online platforms, based on data sharing agreements with the main international platforms intermediating short-term rentals.
While not directly linked to the topic of housing and housing affordability, data on tourism intensity (nights spent per 1000 local inhabitants), tourism density (nights spent per km2), and tourism seasonality can provide information on the possible link between tourists and the use of infrastructure in the country they are visiting, including the housing market.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an international investment within the balance of payment accounts.
For housing, the relevant indicators relate to foreign purchases and sales of real estate. Data are available for inward and outward stocks, flows, and income.
Environment and energy
Environment statistics provides information about the environment and the drivers, pressures, and impacts of our societies on it. The 2 aspects from environmental statistics which are relevant for housing are the links between:
- households and the environment
- construction activities and the environment.
The following sub-topics and indicators are relevant for housing:
- Physical flows, including
- greenhouse gas emissions
- gas and air emissions footprints
- energy use by households and construction activities
- material flows linked to construction activities, including material footprints
- Monetary transactions, including
- environmental taxes paid and environmental subsidies received by households and construction activities
- environmental protection expenditure by households
- environmental-related employment, value added, and investments by construction activities
- Waste, including
- waste generation by households and construction activities
- food waste generated by households
- Water, including
- water use by households
- generation of wastewater and discharge by private households and construction activities
- population connected to public water supply
- wastewater treatment.
Energy statistics provide information on energy prices for households that are relevant for housing affordability.
The data cover electricity prices and natural gas prices and are published with semestral and annual frequency.