Housing Share of housing costs and housing costs overburden

1: As of reference year 2020 there have been two types of results: first and final results. The actually presented results are final results. The "Leben in Europa" survey (German name of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions - EU-SILC), which was conducted separately in the past, was integrated as a subsample into the micro­census in 2020. Comparing the results from 2020 with those of previous years is not possible (break in the time series) as the voluntary survey was changed over to a partly compulsory survey and the composi­tion of the sample was changed. For more infor­mation see the relevant special page.
2: Break in time series. The questions on housing costs for home owners have changed in 2023. From 2020 until 2022 the components mortgage interest payments and expenses for regular maintenance and repairs were only recorded indirectly by most households as part of the answer to a question asking for the sum of the entire monthly housing cost. In 2023 we instead introduced a new question asking directly for any mortgage interest payments or expenses for regular maintenance and repairs the household might have. With the new question asking directly for those components more household do actually record those costs in the way it was intended. Hence, the data quality has improved in that respect. At the same time, however, the comparability with results from before 2023 is now limited. Especially for owners with outstanding mortgage this results in higher housing costs overall and thus also a higher housing cost overburden rate for that population. To a slightly smaller extent this is also reflected in the overall results. These also include the population in household renting their home, for which there was no change to the question on housing costs.

Source: EU-SILC (Microcensus subsample of income and living conditions)