“The demographic developments in all countries is one of the parameters that affect, among others, the housing conditions of the younger generations, while, on the other hand, they can influence both the age at which these generations start a family and the final number of their children. In our country, where in recent years the 25-45 year olds have been facing more and more housing difficulties, we could assume that demographic developments, to a certain extent, are responsible for these difficulties. This could happen if we had, in a very short period of time, an “explosion” of the number of 25-45 year olds, which would also lead to an “explosion” of demand. In Greece, however, we had the opposite, a significant reduction of this group by 850 thousand between 2009 and 2024 (-25%). Therefore, in order to look for the causes of the acute housing problems of young people, it is necessary to look at fields other than demography”.

These are mentioned in his latest digital bulletin Institute of Demographic Research and Studies (IDEM) on “Demographic developments and housing crisis in Greece”.

The author of this article, prof. Byron Kotzamanisdirector of IDEM, after a brief presentation of the significant changes that occurred after 2010, their impact on the younger generations and the ways in which these generations are adapting to the rising cost of housing, estimates that the rapidly increasing discrepancy between the prices of buying or renting first residence and the income of the largest part of young people who do not live in an owner-occupied or rented house, has an impact not only on the creation of a family but also on the number of children that these generations will have.

In particular, the author of this article mentions that during the post-2010 period we had successive crises that had multiple effects on the younger generations, while at the same time, housing credit (that is, the number of housing loans, which are now sub- multiple of the average of the period 2000-09 -only 13 thousand in 2023-), and at the same time, investments in housing shrank significantly (from 8-11% of GDP in 2000-09 to less than 4% after 2012 and just 1.6% in 2023). In recent years in particular, he notes, we have had not only a rapid increase in the demand for housing from foreigners but also in time-leasing, resulting in the aging of the housing stock and the limited supply of new housing, a large part of which was – and continues to be – addressed – to Greeks or foreigners with high incomes.

These developments, emphasizes the director of the Institute of Demographic Research and Studies, also led to the reduction of the rate of ownership at the national level by 4.5 points based on Eurostat data (from 74.0 in 2014 to 69.6 in 2023), a decline that appears to be greater in urban centers. More recently, however, they have also led to a rapid increase in both home purchase prices (newly built or not) and rents. And the growing discrepancy between the cost of renting and the income of that part of the youth who do not live in an owner-occupied house or a residence granted by previous generations, led to the emergence of the current housing crisis

Those of the young people who did not emigrate and remained in our country, notes Mr. Kotzamanis, partially adapted to this new situation. This adjustment led those who were able to cohabit with their parents to do so, causing the percentage of 18-34 year olds living in their parents’ home to increase rapidly (an increase of 12 percentage points between 2010 and 2022) with as a result, we have today one of the highest percentages of young people living with their parents among the countries of the European Union (almost 72% compared to 50% on average in the EU) and, at the same time, the highest age of leaving the parental home ( >30.5 years). Another part of the younger generations, according to him, who did not have this possibility adapted by renting a house that now absorbs a significant, and ever increasing, part of their incomes. However, in both cases, this adjustment will have, if we take into account other negative parameters, cumulative effects not only on the creation of a family, but also on the number of children that these generations will have on average.

In order to deal with the housing crisis, which is now emerging as a “mega-problem” for mainly younger couples, the director of IDEM proposes the implementation of an expanded program to offer social housing and the creation of a body to exercise targeted public housing interventions. Such a program, according to him, would give, as in other European countries, the possibility, among others, to the generations of young people who live mainly in the big urban centers and have low – or even medium – incomes to cover the housing costs needs, with an affordable rent that will not absorb a particularly high percentage of their limited incomes.

Speaking to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, Mr. Kotzamanis mentions that, in order to deal with the housing problem, in recent years, apart from the rent subsidy for households with very low income, some other positive measures have been taken, such as the programs “The house My”, “Housing and Work”, “Coverage”, and “Renovate – Rent”.

However, according to him, these programs have very limited budgets and beneficiaries, and given the current situation, they are not going to solve the acute housing problem of the younger generations.

He believes that an extensive program of providing low-rent rental housing, such as has existed for decades in many European countries, is now required, the implementation of which cannot be undertaken by private initiative. Social housing should therefore be among the priorities of government, Local Government, social partners and civil society. The rapid implementation of such an extensive program, he notes, finally, “will mitigate at the same time – among other things – the negative effects of the housing crisis on the demographics as well, as the recent “Initiative Opinion on the demographics” of the Economic and Social Committee has rightly pointed out. ».