'Housing crisis engulfs countries across Europe'

In recent years, housing crises have become increasingly common across Europe, affecting countries of varying economic health. Portugal, Turkey and even wealthy Luxembourg face the common challenge of providing affordable and accessible housing for their citizens.

The decline in home ownership among young people in Portugal:

Home ownership among young people in Portugal has fallen by 50% over the past two generations. While 55% of those born between 1977 and 1986 owned a home by the age of 25, only just over a quarter of those born after 1997 were able to do so. This decline can be attributed to the real estate crisis, which has seen house prices rise by 8.7% over the last''Decade. Despite Portugal's relatively high ownership rate of 70%, this is mainly due to older generations making it difficult for young people to buy homes. Citizens are demanding government measures such as financial assistance for first-time buyers, building more affordable housing and rehabilitating abandoned neighborhoods.

Renting problems in Turkey:

In Turkey, rental costs have risen so rapidly over the past year that it has led to violence between landlords and tenants, with media reporting 11 dead and 46 injured. Rents have risen by an average of 121% over the past year, and in big cities such as Ankara and Istanbul they have risen by 188%. This is due to many factors, including the crisis''cost of living, high inflation and a flood of displaced people following the country's devastating earthquake in February. The government has set limits on residential rent increases of 25 percent for households and aligned them with official inflation for businesses. But experts say these measures only exacerbate tensions, leading many landlords to use any means, including illegal ones, to evict tenants and find new ones willing to pay higher prices.

Even wealthy Luxembourg faces housing problems:

Luxembourg's residents may be described as the wealthiest in the European Union, but the excessively high cost of buying or renting a home in the country has made living there almost impossible for some. Paschal Zauro, a teacher and mother of three, had to wait five years before being able to get the social housing she wanted. "On the private market, renting an apartment with two rooms costs at least 2,000 euros - it's difficult with one income," she told AFP at a recent rally in the Luxembourg city. "Affordable housing is a rarity, especially for young people and single parents," she said. Antoine Pacquou, a researcher at the Housing Observatory, which collects the data,''s determinants of public policy, supports this mindset. "More and more Luxembourgers are moving abroad to live in Germany, Belgium or France, simply because rents and real estate prices are lower there," he said. In the capital, new apartments sell for 13,000 euros per square meter and older ones for 10,700 euros. The average cost of a house is 1.5 million euros. Rents rose 6.7% between June 2022 and June 2023, much faster than the 3.4% inflation rate over the period. The housing crisis has become a major issue in Luxembourg's upcoming legislative elections. Both major political parties have pledged to take action on the problem.