A Generation Priced Out: Europe’s Housing Crisis

Cities Without Homes: Quantifying Despair

The data tells a chilling story that is far from abstract. According to Eurostat in 2024, as many as 42.6% of young people aged 18 to 34 in the European Union lived with their parents. This shocking figure varies from country to country:

In Croatia, it is 63.8%.

In Serbia, according to research, it exceeds 70%.

In Finland, it drops to just 16%.

This statistic is not just a number—it hides the deep reality of delayed adulthood, compromised personal relationships, and stagnating personal autonomy. In the Western Balkans, the situation is even more acute due to a combination of lower salaries, less developed real estate markets, and the long-term trauma of transition.

In Croatia, symptomatic for the region and the EU, the problem is multi-layered. According to data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the employment rate of young people (15-29) not in education is about 55%, and the median net salary of young employees is significantly below the national average. At the same time, property prices in Zagreb and coastal cities have reached levels unattainable for the average young worker. Analysis by the Croatian National Bank shows that apartment prices in the last decade have risen far faster than wages, widening the gap between those who own property and those who wish to rent or buy it. Today, purchasing an average apartment in Zagreb requires as much as 10.6 annual incomes, while in the European Union that average is around 7.5 years.

“We are the ‘generation of tenants’—perpetual subtenants who pour a huge part of our salary into someone else’s account every month, knowing that money will disappear without any long-term security,” says Marta Kovac, a 25-year-old journalist from Zagreb. “Like it or not, life in Croatia without parental help for a down payment has become a sociological fiction. This destroys not only individual budgets but also dreams of a family, the freedom to change jobs, and the sense of belonging to a community. We have become nomads in our own cities.”

In Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, the situation is further complicated by “grey areas” in legislation, the informal economy, and weak tenant protection. For young people, the only options are often informal contracts without any rights, housing loans with interest rates that bind them for decades, or prolonged stays in their parents’ home. The World Bank in its reports constantly warns that the lack of affordable housing is one of the key brakes on economic growth and social mobility in the region. Particularly concerning is the fact that educated young people are leaving the region en masse, partly due to the inability to achieve basic life goals, including stable housing.

Political Paralysis and the Disappearance of “Public Good”

Unfortunately, while some European countries are progressing, most Western Balkan countries remain trapped in political paralysis. As real estate markets have turned into global speculative playgrounds, the concept of housing as a public good and a human right has almost disappeared from political discourse. Western Balkan states, caught in the pursuit of rapid development and foreign investment, often sacrifice long-term housing policy on the altar of investment projects intended for the wealthiest. Public housing, which was once the pillar of social security, has been reduced to a marginal role.

Real estate speculation has become an epidemic—according to a Transparency International study, in many Balkan cities, over 30% of apartments in new buildings stand empty, while owners wait for their value to rise. This practice not only artificially inflates prices but also deprives cities of life, turning them into investment portfolios instead of living places.

“There is a dangerous misconception that housing is solely a market burden,” emphasizes Prof. Dr. Ivan Marković, an urban sociologist from the University of Belgrade. “When the state abdicates its role as regulator and provider of public goods, it not only abandons the most vulnerable but actively undermines the stability of the middle class. Housing for the young is not a luxury; it is an infrastructural condition for a functional society. Without it, we lose talent, consumer power, and, ultimately, demographic future. In the Balkans, we have a paradox—empty buildings surrounded by generations who cannot find a home.”

In the EU, although there are initiatives like the “Youth Guarantee” and funds for urban development, they are often fragmented and insufficient to counteract systemic pressures. The effects of the pandemic and the energy crisis have only accelerated this process, pushing rental and purchase prices out of reach for young families with stable incomes. The European Central Bank, with its policy of low interest rates, long encouraged the growth of real estate prices, and now a sharp increase in rates further complicates young people’s access to loans.