The private rental market across the European Union is going through a period of change and
uncertainty. With factors like rising housing costs, stagnating wages, demand for rental properties
exceeding supply in many areas, and evolving regulations around tenant rights and sustainable
housing, both landlords and tenants across the EU face new challenges and opportunities.
Understanding the key forces shaping the future of the EU rental market can help both property
owners and renters make informed decisions.
Supply and Demand Imbalances
Many EU cities are seeing a fundamental imbalance between the supply and demand for rental
housing. Young professionals and families seeking to rent increasingly outstrip the available
properties in many urban areas, and in countries bordering Ukraine, there has been a massive influx
of refugees, which has caused even more pressure on the rental market. In addition, waiting lists for
affordable government or nonprofit-run housing also continue to expand. This supply-demand gap
puts upward pressure on rents.
Without intervention, this trend is likely to continue in the years ahead. High housing prices prevent
many renters from transitioning to home ownership, sustaining demand for rentals. On the supply
side, construction of new rental stock lags behind population growth in cities. Public and private
investments in affordable urban rental housing construction look unlikely to fully close this supply-
demand gap anytime soon.
Upward Pressures on Rents
Cities like Amsterdam and Berlin have experienced significant problems, where the shortage of
available housing is forcing many families to spend in excess of 50% of their monthly income on rent,
which is just not sustainable in the long term. One downside of high rents is that it makes it difficult
for families that aspire to get on the housing ladder: people can’t save for a deposit if they have no
disposable income left at the end of the month.
It isn’t just young people who are struggling with higher rents and fewer housing options in EU cities
like Berlin and Amsterdam. The phenomenom of middle aged renters is becoming increasingly
common. As more older people are forced to stay in rental housing because they can’t afford to buy
a home, it pushes younger people into overcrowded shared housing. There is an increasing trend
whereby old people end up back in the rental market after relationship breakdowns. Once there,
they get stuck and can’t move out. In turn, many young people are stuck at home because they can’t
afford high rents and there aren’t any rental homes in their income brackets.
With demand outpacing supply in many EU rental markets, rents look likely to rise even faster than
general inflation in coming years. While good for landlord returns, renters will see housing
consuming a growing slice of their paychecks. Many predict a two-tiered system evolving, with a
shrinking pool of affordable rentals while prices rise rapidly at the top-end of the market catering to
high-income urban renters.
EU policymakers face pressure to address housing unaffordability from both ends – increasing
construction investments to grow rental supply while also enhancing tenant protections and housing
assistance programs to aid low and middle-income renters struggling with rising rents. Expect
heated policy debates on these issues across Brussels and EU capitals in years ahead.
Evolving Tenant Preferences and Expectations
In a recent conversation with Adam, a top sales agent at maltasothebysrealty.com, it became clear
that today’s EU renters, especially younger generations, show evolving preferences that landlords
must understand to remain competitive and retain tenants long-term. Renters increasingly demand
amenities like high-speed broadband, bike storage, access to shared cars, community green spaces
and sustainability features that reduce environmental impacts and monthly costs.
Many also expect flexibility not always catered to in traditional lease models – features like
subletting without penalty, flexible lease breaks, rent portability within corporate housing networks,
and easy swapability across a landlord’s portfolio of units to accommodate life changes. Landlords
able and willing to cater to these emerging amenity and flexibility expectations stand to benefit from
higher occupancy rates, improved tenant retention and expanded target renter demographic pools
in the future.
Sustainability Regulations and Incentives
With ambitious carbon reduction targets set across the EU in recent years, policymakers look to
increase regulations, incentives, and investments to accelerate energy efficiency improvements in
existing as well as new housing stock – with major implications for rental property owners. Stricter
building codes requiring deep energy retrofits of inefficient existing rental housing will increase
upgrade costs for landlords, but also enhance property values while reducing tenant utility bills.
EU and national government grants, no-interest loans and allowances to support such retrofits aim
to offset some landlord costs. But rent increases may still occur following upgrades. On the flip side,
as EU construction industry capacities for building highly energy efficient affordable housing grow,
landlords developing new sustainably built rental properties can tap into expanding public incentive
programs and sustainable housing investments the EU and member states plan to unveil in coming
years as part of Green New Deal initiatives.
Major shifts lie ahead for both landlords and tenants in the EU’s private rental housing market tied
to imbalanced supply and demand dynamics, upward price pressures, changing renter preferences,
and evolving regulations and incentives around environmental sustainability and affordability for
renters. The future EU rental landscape poses risks, but also opportunities for property owners
nimble enough to adapt to fast changing market conditions and renter expectations. By
understanding the key forces of change at play, both landlords and tenants can make informed
decisions as they navigate this fluid and evolving market in the years ahead.