Two-thirds EU citizens live in owner-occupied dwellings

The majority of people in the European Union (EU) in 2014 were owners of their dwellings, with over two-thirds of the population living in owner-occupied dwellings, the EU's statistical office Eurostat revealed Monday.

Eurostat said there were more owners than tenants in every EU member state last year. The highest percentage of the population owning their dwellings were registered in Romania at 96.1 percent, followed by Slovakia, Lithuania, Croatia and Hungary, all at about 90 percent.

Less than two-thirds of the population owned their home in Germany, Austria, Denmark, the United Kingdom and France.

Regarding housing affordability, 11.4 percent of the EU population had to spend more than 40 percent of their disposable income on their living accommodations, putting strain on their pocketbooks.

Eurostat said more than half (59.3 percent) of the population were living in houses and 40.0 percent in flats.

In the majority of member states, the largest part of the population were living in houses, with the highest proportions recorded in the United Kingdom (84.7 percent), Croatia (80.8 percent), and Belgium (77.6 percent).

By contrast, flats were the main dwelling type in Spain at 66.5 percent, Latvia at 65.1 percent, Lithuania (58.4 percent) and Greece (56.9 percent). Endit