Europe’s Housing Paradox: Spare Rooms Amid a Deepening Crisis

Eurostat reports that 33.4 % of EU residents live in homes with spare bedrooms, a condition termed under-occupation. While many EU cities face a shortage of affordable housing, a sizable share of the existing stock remains larger than household needs.

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Cyprus records the highest under-occupation rate at 69.4 %, followed by Ireland (66 %) and Malta (63.2 %). Among the EU’s four largest economies, Spain (54.3 %) exceeds the EU average, while Italy (18.2 %) falls well below it. The Netherlands (58.5 %), Belgium (57 %), Luxembourg (52 %) and Norway (51 %) also surpass the bloc average of 33.4 %. Eastern and southeastern states generally stay under 15 %, with Romania at 8.1 % and Serbia at 8.2 %.

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Homeownership is a strong predictor: 40.5 % of owners versus 14.2 % of tenants live in under-occupied dwellings. Professor Sebastian Kohl links this to institutional tenure structures and demographic composition, noting that one- and two-person households without children are most affected. Higher-income households also tend to occupy larger homes. National surveys differ in room definitions—Spain, Ireland and Finland count kitchens as rooms—complicating cross-country comparison.

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FEANTSA stresses that the core problem is a mismatch between housing supply and demand for smaller, affordable units. The organization argues that punitive measures such as the UK’s “bedroom tax” are ineffective when appropriately sized homes are scarce, leading to income loss for affected households. Eurostat data show that 40.5 % of homeowners live in under-occupied dwellings, compared with 14.2 % of tenants, highlighting the role of tenure in the phenomenon.

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FEANTSA contends that penalising under-occupation without addressing structural causes—underinvestment in genuine social housing, assetisation and speculation—misdiagnoses the issue. The group proposes converting empty homes into affordable and social housing as a more effective solution than punitive taxation.

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Kohl notes that national surveys differ on what counts as a “room”, hindering EU-wide comparability. Research by Jonas Lage and colleagues finds a perception gap: only 40 % of residents view their homes as too large, despite objective classification as under-occupied.

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• “Under-occupation refers to homes that are larger than their occupants need, typically because they have more bedrooms than required.” — Euronews Business, reporting

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• “Are those smaller homes actually available and affordable?” — FEANTSA spokesperson, European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless

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• “Institutional structures like tenure play a massive role. In our models, homeownership is the single strongest predictor of objective under-occupation,” — Professor Sebastian Kohl, Free University of Berlin

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• “The researchers found that only two in five people considered their home too large, despite it being classified as under-occupied according to official metrics.” — Jonas Lage et al., research team

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EU policymakers are debating measures to bring empty homes back into use for affordable and social housing, as suggested by FEANTSA.

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