Most of Luxembourg citizens love their “home sweet home” (L'essentiel.lu)

66% of the citizens of the Grand Duchy live in a house, whilst the remaining 34% have settled down in apartments. The percentage of people living in a house drops down to 52.9% in the Eurozone.

66.3% of Luxembourg citizens live in single-family homes. If you compare that figure with the average registered in the Eurozone, this is a very high rate since that same percentage drops down to 52.9% in the 18 members of the euro area. However, the Grand Duchy does not stand the challenge brought by its neighbours: if that percentage stands at 45.3 in Germany, the same figure moves up to 66.7 in France and even to 78.9 in Belgium. Looking at the numbers more closely and especially at their breakdown, 29.9% of Luxembourg citizens live in a terraced house whilst another 36.4% have chosen a semi-detached house – aka maison isolée – as the place where to settle down with their loved ones.

Foreigners often pay rent

The data provided by Statec provide a confirmation of the inequalities that still are to be found in the Grand Duchy. 44.4% of those at risk of poverty live in a house, whereas that figures moves up to 70% among those who can rely on more solid financial assets (the average for the euro area standing at 54.9%).

If you look at the nationality, some more differences come up, with only 16% of Luxembourg nationals paying a rent and that same figure sky-rocketing up to 49.5% among foreigners.

Among those who own their house or apartment, 60% are still in the process of paying back a mortgage (that same figure standing at 42% in the Eurozone). Since loans are being paid back over a long period, many of these homeowners experience the risk to get stuck in a debt trap. More than 75% of the so-called “poor” homeowners are coping with that situation in the Grand Duchy. In the euro area, on the other hand, only three out of 10 homeowners struggling with their financial situation are at risk of poverty.