Housing: Who owns the housing stock in Luxembourg?

Posted26 July 2022, 06:59

Lodging: Who owns the housing stock in Luxembourg?

LUXEMBOURG – According to the latest figures available, the wealthiest 20% of households own nearly two-thirds of the country’s real estate assets.

Editpress/François Aussems

Although the Observatoire de l’Habitat published a list of the 49 main owners of building land in Luxembourg at the beginning of the year (note: more than half are natural persons), there are currently only a few information on the concentration of built heritage. Who are the owners and multi-owners in the Grand Duchy?

In 2018, the work carried out by the Banque centrale du Luxembourg on the basis of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, showed that most households in Luxembourg owned their main residence (69%). A significant proportion of these households also owned other real estate (26%), statistics close to those of 2014. In 2018, the average value of gross real assets held by households thus reached 881,400 euros.

Apartments, targets of investors

For this same reference year, the wealthiest 5% of households owned approximately 38% of total household wealth. The proportion reached almost two thirds for the 20% of the wealthiest households. Results once more similar to those observed in 2014. Between 2014 and 2018, the average value of household net wealth increased by 17% to reach 897,900 euros. After correcting for the change in consumer prices, this corresponds to an increase of 12%.

If the real estate agencies contacted by The essential reluctant to give figures concerning the country’s large landowners, a parliamentary response published on January 11 sheds some light on the subject. Henri Kox, Minister Déi Gréng of Housing, then provided information which shows that Sales in a future state of completion (VEFA) attract many investors among the buyers of apartments under construction.

In 2020, for example, of the 2,045 apartments under construction sold, 833 were purchased by investors, or 40.7%. The previous year, the share going to investors was even slightly higher (887 out of 2,107, or 42.1%).