Why young people are the big losers in Europe’s dysfunctional housing system

The EU has unveiled its first-ever housing strategy, but is it enough to see off the far right and rescue a generation shut out of affordable living?Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereDonald Trump may rage about Europe being a multicultural hell facing “civilisational” collapse. As a proud real estate guy, however, he must be impressed by one feature of European life: the house prices, and the extent to which even progressive governments have abandoned housing to the markets.Since 2010, average sale prices in the EU have surged by close to 60%. In some countries, such as the Netherlands, house prices have doubled in a decade. Rents, meanwhile, have increased by almost 30% on average in the last 15 years. The rent average masks dramatic spikes experienced in some countries: 208% in Estonia, 177% in Lithuania, 108% in Ireland and 107% in Hungary. If property has been a lucrative bet for wealthy investors, the cost of a home is a financial ordeal for millions of people whose incomes have been outpaced. Continue reading...