Household's housing expenditure in Austria, Germany and Italy

Christian Beer () and Karin Wagner ()
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Christian Beer: Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Economic Analysis Division
Karin Wagner: Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Economic Analysis Division

Monetary Policy & the Economy, 2017, issue Q4/17, 48-61

Abstract: For many households, housing-related expenditures make up a substantial share of total consumption. This article aims to shed some light on households’ current housing expenses in Austria, Germany and Italy. To this end, we use national data from the 2014 Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) to calculate the current housing expenditure (the ratio of current housing expenses to household net income). Comparing these three countries we see that the housing expenditure is lowest in Italy, with an average (mean) of 22% (median: 17%), and highest in Germany (mean: 37%, median: 31%). The average housing expenditure in Austria is 29% (median: 26%). In all three countries, the housing expenditure decreases as income and/or wealth increases. The current housing expenditure of tenants is higher than that of homeowners. On average, homeowners’ housing expenditure amounts to 21% in Austria, 31% in Germany and 19% in Italy, whereas the average housing expenditure of tenants is 39% in Austria, 44% in Germany and 36% in Italy. In particular, homeowners without outstanding housing loans have a relatively low current housing expenditure. The difference between the median current housing expenditure of indebted owners and that of owners without debt is 10% in Austria, 17% in Germany and 19% in Italy. Differences across surveys still make international comparisons of housing expenses difficult. However, the availability of HFCS data has improved the situation considerably.

Keywords: housing costs; housing expenditures; housing finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D14 D31 R21 R38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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