Homeownership remains out of reach for a significant portion of Europeans. According to Eurostat, in 2025, 68.5% of households in EU countries will own their homes. This is 2.2 percentage points lower than in 2010. At the same time, differences between countries remain significant: while 47.2% of households in Germany own their homes, this figure reaches 93.8% in Slovakia.
Who Enters the Housing Market the Fastest
Among Europe’s largest economies, residents of the United Kingdom enter the housing market the fastest. The average age for purchasing a first home there is 28.4 years—one of the lowest figures in the study. According to RE/MAX, this is facilitated by a high level of financial support from family: more than half of Britons aged 18 to 34 receive cash gifts or inheritances that help them purchase property.
At the opposite end of the list is Germany. Here, people buy their first home at an average age of 33.6—more than five years later than Britons. Experts attribute this to the characteristics of the German housing market, where renting is traditionally viewed as a long-term and socially acceptable form of housing. According to the survey, 69% of Germans aged 18 to 34 live in rented housing, while the European average is 38%.
Spain has the second-lowest average age among the EU’s largest economies—30.9 years. In France and Italy, the purchase of a first home occurs later than the European average—at 32.5 and 32.8 years, respectively.
The first purchase does not always depend on price
According to Michael Polzler, CEO of RE/MAX Europe, the age of the first purchase is not determined solely by housing costs. Family support, cultural factors, and society’s attitude toward renting play a significant role.
In Italy and Spain, young people typically remain living with their parents until age 26—about three years longer than the European average. This allows them to save longer for a down payment, but at the same time may delay their entry into the real estate market.
In France, the situation is different: young people leave their parents’ home around age 23, but financial support from family is significantly less common. Only one-third of French people aged 18 to 34 receive financial support for buying a home, compared to nearly half of young Europeans on average.
Among the countries where the purchase of a first home occurs latest, in addition to Greece and Switzerland, are Turkey, the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Croatia. At the same time, after Malta, the earliest entry into the housing market is recorded in Hungary and the Netherlands, where the average age of first-time buyers is 28.5 and 28.8 years, respectively.
The Youngest Homeowners in the EU
The study also reveals significant differences between countries in the proportion of young homeowners. In the UK, 40.2% of buyers purchase their first home by the age of 25. This is the highest rate among all countries in the study. In Greece, the share of such buyers is only 12.1%.
When considering the age group up to 35 years old, on average across Europe, about 69.5% of residents manage to purchase their first home by this age. In Luxembourg, this figure reaches 87.8%, in the Netherlands—85.2%, in the UK—84.6%, and in Hungary—82.8%. In Greece, only about half of residents become homeowners by age 35.
At the same time, Euronews Business analysts found no direct correlation between the age at which people buy their first home and the overall homeownership rate in the country. This suggests that housing affordability is determined by a more complex set of factors, including the characteristics of the rental market, family support, and national models of capital accumulation.
