the Netherlands and Italy, two more countries also hit by the lack of housing

In Europe, the average cost of housing is now 50% higher than the price in 2010. And now that the pandemic has passed, the mass return of tourists is further aggravating the crisis, as in Italy. Our correspondents on site tell the story.

European ministers responsible for housing policy signed a joint declaration on Tuesday March 5 in Liège with a view to a New Deal for social and affordable housing. One in ten Europeans spends more than 40% of their income on housing, andhis situation is particularly sensitive in the Netherlands where the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing even came to study the situation in December.

In Italy, the return of tourists, after several difficult years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is not only synonymous with good news. Tourist habits have evolved and this has a definite impact on Italian housing.

In the Netherlands, the predicted housing shortage is unleashed

In the Netherlands, there is a shortage of 390,000 housing units, especially around Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam. The situation is extremely tense, constantly and rapidly increasing. In six years, 100,000 more homes are missing. According to an external study commissioned by the Batavian government, the acceleration of the shortage is linked in part to the influx of Ukrainian refugees because the Netherlands welcomed 85,000 in 2022. The outlook predicts an improvement by 2030, but even in the most favorable scenario, there will still be a shortage of 200,000 housing units.
Currently, we see students graduates continue to live in their rooms after their studies. The universities had even considered writing to foreign students already accepted to advise them not to come, because they could not guarantee them accommodation. The housing crisis affects even the richest and spills over into northern Belgium, where many Batavians have bought housing in Flanders and are driving up prices, Belgians believe.
According to the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing, the Netherlands has a double problem: not only is there a shortage of housing, but the prices are also not affordable. According to this report, the housing crisis was to be expected. He accuses the governments led by Mark Rutte since 2010 of having left the question of housing construction too much to the private sector and of having largely neglected social housing. The previous government had promised the construction of 900,000 new housing units by 2030, but it has resigned since July and this issue, which was at the center of concerns during the legislative elections in November, does not seem ready to be resolved.

In Italy, tourist municipalities are trying to stem short-term rentals

Italian cities, renowned for their cultural treasures, attract many tourists and face the same problems as other European cities like Barcelona. So much so that last October, Florence limited short-term tourist rentals in the UNESCO area of ​​the city center. In 2016, according to the mayor of the Tuscan capital, there were less than 6,000 apartments on Airbnb; today, there are more than 14,000… At the same time, ordinary rents have increased by 42%. To encourage owners who give up tourist rentals in favor of ordinary rentals, the town hall has also proposed eliminating the equivalent of the property tax for three years.

In Rome, we have been seeing the same phenomenon for a year already, particularly in the first district of the city, which covers the historic center. In addition to the proliferation of Airbnbs – which further reduces the rental market and drives up rent prices – other problems are emerging such as the accumulation of waste. Without knowing how many people actually live in certain neighborhoods, the estimate of the volume of trash is underestimated and the means allocated to its collection are not appropriate.

Sales fall in residential and increase in the tourism sector

This trend in the rental market should be compared with the transaction market which is not going strong. According to data from Istat (the equivalent of INSEE in Italy), real estate transactions fell by 11% and the number of real estate loans by 31%. The explanation is the same as elsewhere: rising rates, economic uncertainty. As for the figures provided by Confcommercio, the confederation representing commercial and tourist companies, in 2023, the purchase prices of real estate increased by 4.6% and those of rentals by 5.9%. In these conditions, it is not easy for Italians to find accommodation.