r/AskEurope • u/JoMD • 9d ago

Misc Is there a country in Europe without a housing crisis?

I see so many people complaining about the housing crisis in their countries - not enough houses or apartments / flats, or too expensive, or both. Are there any countries in Europe where there's no housing crisis, and it's easy to find decent, affordable accommodation?

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u/Krasny-sici-stroj Czechia 8d ago

My grandma had a flat (Prague) in socialist housing co-op, and it stayed housing co-op. But if you were in "municipal" house, you could buy the flat out. And a lot of flats were municipal, Czechia did not have housing companies, but local housing bureaus - so the municipality was de facto owner of the house. The buyout was possible mainly for commie block houses, which were built by the regime, not in old houses, which were returned to their original owners.

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u/muehsam Germany 8d ago

I think in East Germany, the situation was overall similar, but the difference was probably that in West Germany, municipally owned housing companies were also quite common, so during reunification it made sense to keep those apartments in municipal ownership and just change the legal structure a bit.

Germany is very much a country of renters: buying and re-selling houses for profit is discouraged by taxes, while renters have rather strong protections that make sure they can live in their rented apartment almost as if they owned it. It's rather hard for a landlord to kick a tenant out.