Why does Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia rule Europe in homeownership?
Posted by FuckTheCake@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 62 comments
Do you think it’s more of a advantage or disadvantage nowadays? As per Remax survey: https://remax.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Housing-Trend-Report-2025.pdf
nikolapc@reddit
More like the other countries are making it unaffordable. It's becoming unaffordable here even now, but people would rather buy an apartment at crazy prices than rent. I think spending half your salary on rent is modern slavery or at least feudalism, but what do I know.
Axel0010110@reddit
Our past with cheap apartments after communism, inheritence and mortgage being same or lower than rent. It makes sense to have your own place because no one will keep you in rented apartment after being 60. You do not know if we will have pensions so it is better to have your own space and cut those expenses in the endz I lose 2000 lei just for rent and utilities while my parents lose around 300 xD and they also have 3 room apartment, not a small, newly built 2 room apartment
eferalgan@reddit
You fancy paying rent?
Slow_IP@reddit
Mostly inherited.
EveningChemical8927@reddit
andreysc7@reddit
THIS \^\^\^
Mostly all my friends, even parents, bought a house or appartment on credit (France & Germany)
Maarten-Sikke@reddit
This, plus the discounted price houses sold right after revolution, and made during the communism.
Also the chart is wrong. Owners are over 90% of the population
Free-Celebration4562@reddit
Communism
chrstianelson@reddit
Communism. That's why.
PVanchurov@reddit
Jfyi, before communism a vast majority of the Bulgarian population were living in villages and owned land and homes.
It's just how Bulgarians are. Communism made matters worse by depriving the Bulgarian population of their savings in the 50s so people put everything into things that can't be taken away so easily.
TRAKIA@reddit
This.
SantisimaTrinidad550@reddit
Actually the reason is the decission to grant the state owned property to the residents.
The homeownership rate in the former GDR - where this didnt happened - is below 40%.
Organic_Contract_172@reddit
But the Czech Republic was communist as well? Likewise, Italy wasn’t
CocoonNapper@reddit
Exactly. Most people inherit some kind of property and multiple at that.
chrstianelson@reddit
A friend of mine is Russian. Her parents and grandparents bought houses decades ago for the price of 5 loaves of bread.
People in former Soviet countries had one thing that was good and it was cheap housing. Now those houses are worth a decent amount.
Distinct_Travel6386@reddit
It's the same in Serbia except for Belgrade, because there are a lot of migrants from other parts of Serbia.
IvanMSRB@reddit
It is true for urban areas, but for rural areas and land properties Miloš takes all the credit.
Successful-Map-9331@reddit
PavelKringa55@reddit
Communism. Selling state-owned apartments for peanuts. But that was one-off.
New generations can not buy in Croatia any more.
exhiale@reddit
I wouldn't say that they can't. It's just very difficult. A lot of people are choosing to be house-poor for cultural reasons - what do you mean you rent!? And such things :D.
Couple it with the notion that people don't know what else to invest their money in and there you go - Zagreb property prices.
Ok_Win8049@reddit
Whichever you slice it, real estate and land are still a tangible thing and are something you need either to live on or work with. Contrast that with owning a stock like Apple. My only real benefit with a stock is selling the stock for a profit, assuming I am profiting nicely from it. If I'm not...well I'm shit out of luck for the time, even more so if I'm forced to sell.
With real estate, even if the price goes down and if you're not forced to sell, you can still rent it out and get something out of it. That isn't to say that the stock market isn't a legit way to invest your money, but we should also be realistic with it. If you want to see some good returns, you need to invest some good money into it, which is pretty hard to do here.
PavelKringa55@reddit
This is the way majority thinks and that's why they love real estate. No market drops since 2009 and they've forgotten that one. Also low cost of ownership, you pay minimal utility bills and that's it.
But it's not like that everywhere. Croatia already has tax on holiday homes and there are chances it'll be much more in the future. Bleak future is US model where monthly taxes on any real estate is about 1/3 of the market rent. In such a situation holding empty is pretty terrible, money down the drain and serious money. Italy has something like that for non-primary homes.
And if you rent currently in ex-Yu places it's not really taxed, while in some places it's taxed a lot and tenants have rights, unlike in ex-Yu locations. So it can happen that you rent, tenant stops paying, stays for a year, demolishes the place and leaves. You sue. He's got no money, honey. Or Spain, with their squatters. They break into your home and you can't evict them.
On the other side stocks pay dividends and are shares of businesses and are very little to no work (got to report taxes). Being a landlord can be a lot of work.
Janosh_Poha@reddit
My Macedonian friend told me this. People who live in the cities are living in apartments that were given to the family in the 1950s and the grandfather has lived there. Then the father, now the son, and one day the son will hand it off to his son. Those who sell their apartments are selling for cheap, because no one has the money to pay a good price for the apartment. Those that live in the villages are living in a home that was built in the 50s or 1960s and the same family living there generation after generation.
buteljak@reddit
Bcs we live with parents. Parents own the houses. We also lead in the lists for the last move out of our parents' house.
Wooden_Luck1890@reddit
Rule of law is other reason. Renting an apartment can be a risk for both side owners and tenants, and in balkans judical system is not a best nor fastes one
Thrusher1337@reddit
As many have already said, communism is one part of it.
The other part is because in economies of low trust, people tend to buy houses more ofteb than renting. This is because buying a house gives you a safety net, that you won't be homeless and your children get it as inheritance when you pass away. This is why Greece also has a big amount of home ownership while never being communist.
Relevant_Mobile6989@reddit
Socialism + ownership culture. One or problably the only good thing socialism did. My grandparents and parents were given brand new apartaments, and good ones. The grandpa from my father side also managed to build a nice house during that time. For some, it was not that bad. Imagine moving from the countryside where everyone used to live in adobe homes, without indoor toilets and so on, to the city where you have shops, clean toilets, hot water, and so on. It was basically a dream for them. Then after 1980 things started to go really bad. That's what happens when a guy who never worked (Ceausescu) gets to be the leader of the "workers". Fucking cunt. Good he died like that.
Wooden_Luck1890@reddit
Well, families live under "the one roof"
DDDX_cro@reddit
we do not.
The data is extremely flawed.
Croatia has one of the highest rates of grown children living with their parents, in the entire EU.
Yet the data here shows them as being home owners.
So, if 2 parents + 2 children all live in their grandparents' house together, which is under grandmother's name, this data counts all 6 of them as homeowners. Even though it's just 1 home, owned by just 1 person.
And when those 2 children turn 30 and bring their spouses to live in that house, it will show 8 homeowners in there.
Even though it's just 1 baba's house, with 7 other people in it. Does not mean 8 houses for 8 people, like the data implies.
Inevitable_Motor_685@reddit
Is Switzerland really that low? I'd expect it to be on an average level at the very least
deviendrais@reddit
Switzerland has a lot of immigrants who move to cities. Not sure what the percentage would be for people who’re not descendants of recent immigrants. House prices skyrocketed in recent decades in Switzerland too tho
LaVeriteEstDansLeVin@reddit
Greece used to be 87% iirc but then shit happened.
Imaginary_String_814@reddit
Antiparochi System was smart as fuck
LaVeriteEstDansLeVin@reddit
It was a good temporary solution but its long term result is that now we have half of the population living crammed in one city. Greece is an empty country if you look at the population density.
For reference, Malta which is basically a little shit on the map, has the same population as Crete which is ~30 times bigger.
Imaginary_String_814@reddit
i mean the countryside dying is nothing special to greece or crete, urbanism will only get stronger and cities more dense since they offer the best opportunities. (anybody who wants to live on the country side already can)
from an financing standpoint it was among the best systems to boost the middle class, you had basically a new middle class after the migration to athens.
LaVeriteEstDansLeVin@reddit
The problem specifically in Greece is that everybody goes to one city because it's the only one that is developed. Everything in Greece is athenocentric.
PikassoBG@reddit
Because we are the poorest in EU :D
Madatefute@reddit
Its because romanian people said no to socialism and communism, and the ownership equals never return to this poor leadership… and now we have the socialism in united europe… is like idiocracy movie.
nicubunu@reddit
Houses used to be affordable, you may even say cheap. Duh, I remember when a studio apartment was 1000USD
Substratas@reddit
Albania & Kosovo out of this because they don’t want us to win.
https://i.redd.it/iqse7xdimcwg1.gif
SolutionTime5811@reddit
Becuase a lot of them have been given for free by Iliescu. And, we have a sort of mentality to have a house, than what ever bed thing happens we still have the house. Currently, people are making 20...30 years loans, pay 300% the cost (some tines huge of the apartments...) just becouse the bank instalmment is smaller than the rent.
zwiegespalten_@reddit
61 % + 27% = 88 %. I guess the rest 12% are nomads
MightyOneX@reddit
How turkic of them to choose the nomad lifestyle.
Sanity997@reddit
Because we live with our parents till we are 30/40 or forever until we save enough money to be able to buy flat with crazy prices of 3-5k euro per sqr meter...
Blue88_wxz@reddit
That percentage refers to homes owned by homeowners; it does not mean that percentage of people own a home.
SOHONEYSAME@reddit
it's 99% for us.
(there may be like a couple people renting, as in full-time).
P-l-Staker@reddit
I'm not sure if it's a majority at all, but a lot of Romanians and Poles go abroad, make money and then return home to buy property.
In contrast, my experience with Greeks is that they either go back because they miss it, they go back early because they couldn't adjust, or they just settle wherever they are.
Ok_Win8049@reddit
How deep do Bulgarian or Romanian statistics go though? In Serbia, ownership is very simplified. It's just classified as private vs state ownership, it doesn't get into different types of private ownership which inflates these figures. Germany for instance, makes the distinction between an LLC and a person owning a home. Second, there is a cultural difference. In a lot of western countries, renting is more acceptable as the norm + both the landlords and renters are much better protected legally there, than in any Balkan or Eastern European country.
Cefalopodul@reddit
In Romania's case lots of people bought appartments in the 1980s with 20 or 30 year loan. When communism fell, the country was hit by inflation but nobody bothered to update the loan so people could pay off their appartment with a few months salary
TimeCatch9967@reddit
Most block apartments were not for sale during communism. Petre Roman passed a government decree allowing state tenants to buy them.
doc-lead@reddit
Because people are dirt poor. Had they not inherited or arduously bought something, streets would look like your average American tent town
HorrorsPersistSoDoI@reddit
Where are those "dirt poor" people you speak of? Every time I go out on the road, in restaurants or in shops - everywhere is packed!
LibertyChecked28@reddit
Oh yes, OP forgot that everyone on Reddit takes +10000$ after taxes.
doc-lead@reddit
Bias. Whenever I go to a casino, I see a bunch of people throwing their money away. They can also have their coffee and meals cause they don't think of mortgage. Not to mention, Balkans re.all about appearances. It either the golden children who haven't got a penny to their own name (money they made) or are spending frivolous and then eating burek for 5 days
roly99@reddit
Crotia going strong!
BeatnologicalMNE@reddit
Leftover from Communism (Bulgaria + Romania) and Socialist-Communism (Croatia and rest of Ex Yu countries).
You also couple that with mentality that "real estate" is best way to "save yourself against inflation" and whoila.
Odd-Organization-740@reddit
Countries with shrinking population = more empty houses
PlamenIB@reddit
We are living the American Dream 🦅
Familiar-Custard-216@reddit
Well Bulgaria has lots of land, while also having a small, old and decreasing population
It makes lots of sense why people would own their homes
In contrast, the Uk where I live is lower, and lots of people rent, including myself. That’s because the UK is very populated, and especially for London there is an high internal, as well as out of the country external demand, for homes
Since homes are very expensive in London, people rent instead
PersimmonTall8157@reddit
More rural societies, also historically less affected by western modern trends.
ImamTrump@reddit
This is more tied to if the people were given land upon their independence. If yes then you’ll see high home ownership. If it all went to the state then you’ll have renters.
pr0faka@reddit
Because there's literally nothing else to do with your money.