1. Housing is the largest spending item in household budgets

Share of final household consumption expenditure, 2021

Source: OECD National Accounts (Final consumption expenditure of households) and OECD calculations.


  1. Housing spending has risen over the past two decades

Share of housing expenditure in household final consumption

Source: OECD National Accounts (Final consumption expenditure of households) and OECD calculations.


  1. House prices have risen faster than household income in most countries

Number of years over which cumulated average household disposable income equals the average price of a 100m2 dwelling

Source: Bricongne, Turrini and Pontuch (2019), Assessing House Prices: Insights from “Houselev”, a Dataset of Price Level Estimates and OECD Analytical Database.


  1. House prices have risen faster than rents in almost all OECD countries

Real house price and rent index, 2022 (2005=100)

Source: OECD National and Regional House Price Database.


  1. In the wake of the 2022 energy crisis, housing-related items have experienced strong price increases

Year-on-year changes in prices of housing-related spending items, 2022 or latest available year

Source: OECD Consumer Price Indices (CPIs) Database.


  1. Many low-income households are overburdened with housing costs

Share of population in the bottom quintile of the income distribution spending more than 40% of disposable income on mortgage and rent, 2020 or latest available year

Source: OECD Affordable Housing Database.


  1. Access to housing finance varies across the income distribution

Share of mortgage borrowers by income quintile, 2020 or latest available year

Source: OECD Affordable Housing Database.


  1. Low-income households face a higher risk of being overburdened by mortgage costs

Share of mortgage costs in household disposable income, by income quintile, 2019 or latest available year

Source: OECD Affordable Housing Database.


  1. Many households live in overcrowded dwellings

Share of households in the corresponding income quintile that live in overcrowded dwellings, 2019 or latest available year

Note: The overcrowding rate captures whether dwellings provide a given household with sufficient space, measured as the number of rooms per household member, taking into account different factors of household composition (see for details)

Source: OECD Affordable Housing Database.


  1. Vulnerable households face a risk of homelessness

Share of homeless population in percent of total population, 2020 or latest available year

Source: OECD Affordable Housing Database.


  1. Public investment in housing has been picking up after declining for several years

Total public investment in Housing and community amenities and in Housing development alone, OECD-30 average, share of GDP

Source: OECD National Accounts, government expenditure by function (COFOG Database) and OECD calculations.


  1. Public investment in housing is not a priority for many countries

Gross public investment in housing, average from 2018 to 2020, % of GDP

Source: OECD National Accounts, government expenditure by function (COFOG Database) and OECD calculations.


  1. Many countries spend a lot on housing allowances

Total government spending on housing allowances, share of GDP, 2020 or latest available year

Source: OECD Affordable Housing Database.


  1. Few countries rely on social housing as a policy tool

Social rental dwellings as a share of the total stock of dwellings

Source: OECD Affordable Housing Database.


  1. Countries use very different models to provide social housing

Share of total social rental housing stock by type of providers, 2020 or latest available year

Source: OECD Affordable Housing Database.