Spain has broken with the trend of recent decades: year after year, it is falling in the ranking of how many homes are owned in the EU. In other words, it is climbing up the ranks of the countries with the highest percentage of houses for rent. Of the total housing stock, 77.8% in Spain are owned, compared to 96% in Romania or 82.7% in Norway. Thus, it is 15th in the ranking of owners.
At the end of 2016, the number of homes owned in Spain stood at 77.8%, six tenths below the percentage recorded in 2015, when it was established at 78.2%. Compared to 2008, the year when the property bubble burst, the number of houses owned has fallen by 2.4 percentage points, according to data from Eurostat.
On the flip side of the coin, we have rentals. The rate of houses for rent in Spain is 22.2%, compared to 21.8% in 2015 and 21.2% in 2014.
In general, in the main European powers, the percentage of properties owned has been falling since 2005, the year in which there are the most data available in Eurostat statistics. In Germany, for example, 51.7% of houses had owners at the end of 2016, compared to 53.3% in 2005. In the United Kingdom, the percentage has dropped from 70% in 2005 to 63.4% in 2016. This shows that renting is a powerful alternative to buying.
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