"Housing in Europe: Why Young People Stay Home Longer"

31.3 years old. That's the average age Croatians move out.

In Finland, it happens at 21.4. A ten-year difference, on the same continent. No cultural cliché fully explains this gap. Behind it are housing markets, income levels, rental prices, and political decisions that have built up over decades.

Housing is the single largest expense for European households, according to Finorum 2026. Not food, not transport, not insurance. Housing. And this one line item determines when young people can stand on their own financially.

Germany: the country of renters

53% of Germans rent. That's not an accident. It's the result of a system that has made renting socially acceptable. Rent control (Mietpreisbremse), tenant protections (Kündigungsschutz), social housing (at least historically), a strong tenants' association (Mieterschutzbund). In Romania (94% homeownership), Slovakia (93%), or Hungary (92%), renting is more of a last resort. After the fall of communism, state-owned apartments were privatized en masse and sold to residents for very little.

The German model has its advantages. Renters stay flexible. No land registry entry, no 20-year fixed mortgage, no concentration risk in a single property. At the same time, it means Germans build wealth through property less often. In a country where retirement savings increasingly need to be organized privately, that's a problem.

When do young Europeans move out?

The differences are enormous. Eurostat provides the average ages:

Ten years separate north and south. In Scandinavia, moving out in your early 20s is the social norm. State-funded student finance, affordable student housing, a labor market that gives young people easier entry. In Southern Europe: high youth unemployment, temporary contracts, exploding rents in major cities.

The paradox of low housing burden

Here's where it gets counterintuitive. The housing cost overburden rate measures how many people spend more than 40% of their income on housing. For 15- to 29-year-olds, this rate across the EU is 9.7% (total population: 8.2%). Young people are more affected. Makes sense.

Except: the countries with the highest rates aren't the ones you'd expect.

Croatia has the lowest overburden rate but the highest average move-out age. Denmark has one of the highest rates but the second-lowest move-out age. The paradox resolves simply: if you're still living with your parents at 31, you don't pay rent. If you don't pay rent, you don't show up in any overburden statistic.

The low rate in Southeastern Europe isn't a sign of affordability. It's a sign that the market is so expensive young people never move in at all.

Capital cities becoming unaffordable

Rent-to-income ratios in European capitals paint a dramatic picture. According to Finorum 2026 and local surveys:

• Lisbon: 96.8% of the average income for a standard rental
• Prague, Warsaw, Bratislava: over 70%
• Amsterdam, Dublin: over 50%

96.8% in Lisbon. That's not a typo. An average apartment in Lisbon costs nearly the entire average salary. Even well-paid workers need a flatshare or a long commute.

In Germany, the picture varies wildly by city. Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, and Frankfurt have become drastically more expensive over the past decade. At the same time, cities in Saxony, Thuringia, or Saarland still exist where 500 EUR in cold rent (before utilities) gets you a three-room apartment. This regional spread makes sweeping statements about "the German housing market" difficult.

Housing determines everything else

The interplay of housing costs, income, and daily expenses shapes the financial reality of entire generations. If you spend 40 or 50 percent of your income on rent, you have less for savings, less for retirement planning, less room for unexpected expenses. A broken washing machine becomes a financial stress test.

For young people in Germany, there's an added layer: without a Schufa report (credit score), without several months of salary slips, and often without a parental guarantee (Bürgschaft), getting an apartment in popular cities is nearly impossible. The market filters you out before you even get a viewing.

The European data shows one thing clearly: housing costs are the lever where financial inequality between generations is most visible. If you're lucky enough to grow up in Scandinavia with strong student finance and a functioning rental market, you start independent life in your early 20s. If you're up against an overheated market in Southern Europe, you stay in your childhood bedroom into your 30s.

Knowing your exact housing cost share is the first step toward better financial planning. Not estimated, not approximate, but down to the euro.