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More young people rent their homes
42 per cent of the young people below 25 years were renters in 2001. This is a sharp increase from 1997. The young people live more crowded than the rest of the population, and they move more often.
Approximately 80 per cent of the population are living in dwellings owned by the household, either as freeholders, through home builders organizations or through a joint stock company. During the last 10-15 years this proportion has been stable.
More renters among young people
However, the survey in 2001 shows a clear increase in the proportion of renters among young people below 25 years of age, from 31 per cent in 1997 to 42 per cent in 2001.
Is this the result of young people being excluded from the housing market to a larger degree than before? It is difficult without further analysis to conclude that the prices now are so high that young people are excluded from the housing market. Two factors are important for the development in ownership among young people. One factor is how long they live with their parents. The other is at what age they establish their own family, either through marriage, consensual union or by having children. The increase in the proportion of young people renting their dwelling is paralleled by an increase in the proportion living outside their parents home, from 40 to 50 per cent. During the 1990s the tendency was clearly towards later establishment with family. This made it more difficult for young people to get their own dwelling, because this is more difficult for single than for pairs.
Lowest housing standard among young people
The size of the dwelling is one of the most important measures of housing standard. It is about as many in 2001 that live in crowded dwellings as 10-15 years earlier. Living in a crowded dwelling means that a one-person household has only one room, or that other households have less than one room per person (excluding kitchen, bath etc). The proportion living in crowded dwellings is highest among persons below 25 and among persons 25-44 years. Among the middle-aged and the elderly very few are living in crowded dwellings. One in six are living in crowded dwellings among persons below 25 years of age, one in ten among persons 25-44 years.
As a parallel to this we find that the middle-aged and the elderly most often live in spacious dwellings. More than 40 per cent live very spaciously, which means that the household has at least three rooms more than the number of members in the household. Among young persons below 25 years of age less than 20 per cent live in very spacious dwellings.
Other measures of low housing standard, like cold, humid or poorly ventilated dwellings, show that rather few, 3-4 per cent, live in such dwellings.
... but they also move frequently
A large proportion of young people move to another dwelling each year. This means that the housing conditions for many young people will change relatively fast. 44 per cent of the young persons below the age of 25 had moved to their present dwelling after 1. January 2000. This is so in spite of the considerable proportion of young people living with their parents, who move much less frequently. Also persons 25-44 years of age move frequently, 28 per cent had moved to their present dwelling during the last two calendar years.
Lowest housing standard in big cities
In the big cities (100 000 inhabitants or more) one in eight live in crowded dwellings and almost one in five live in very spacious dwellings. In rural areas 4 percent live in crowded and four in ten in very spacious dwellings. Other measures of housing standard show small differences between big cities and other areas.