The economic accessibility of meeting housing needs in EU countries

The paper discusses the economic accessibility of meeting housing needs, reflecting inhabitants’ economic potential of meeting housing needs at a specific level and indicating the economic effort required by meeting these needs. The author presents an assessment of the level of the economic accessibility of meeting housing needs in EU countries and differences between the analysed countries in this area, and identifies the factors which have an impact on economic accessibility. The research shows that in 2014–2024, the highest economic accessibility of meeting housing needs is recorded in Malta, and the lowest in Greece. Differences between European countries are very large, although a slight trend is observed of reducing existing gaps. The economic accessibility of meeting housing needs is not affected by housing prices or the level of housing resources in the form of savings. Moreover, the analysed period is characterised by a considerably decreasing positive correlation between economic accessibility and a given country’s level of development and its citizens’ wealth. The presented research contributes to a broader discourse on the possibilities of meeting housing needs in EU countries. Also, it offers a methodological proposal for investigating the economic accessibility of meeting such needs.