"In Europe most people rent"

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en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_home_ownership_rate

Why do people constantly say this when it's not true and the UK has one of the highest renting rates in Europe? France has a similar home ownership rate and renters over there have way more rights.

This has always annoyed me too. I lived in France for 25 years and everyone I knew aspired to become a homeowner.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_home_ownership_rate

And even if a lot of people do rent, somebody owns those homes!

I've only ever heard it said about Switzerland & Germany, not the whole of Europe.

Presumable gleam figures would be based on place of primary residence.

I did not know this. Effective propaganda, I guess! I've said it before, but now stand corrected.

Very interesting table - even in number 47, the famous "Germany", "most people" ie the majority, own their homes!

It does tend to be owner occupiers who say 'oh what's so great about home ownership, in "Germany" most people rent.'. Yes I agree, it is highly annoying and minimises a real problem. That's not even starting on the fact that rental conditions in Germany are different.

Though it is interesting from that table that very high rates of owner occupation are not necessarily associated with very high gdp per capita. But Sweden, Netherlands, Canada, France, Australia - all rich countries, and all 65% or above. Of course the UK figure is still 63% - but that obscures the difference between generations - the over 40s and under 40s. Would be interesting to know if the same is true in the other high owner occupation countries.

In Europe/Germany or wherever more people rent and more people are happy to rent because they have more rights and it is probably more affordable. It is so secure in Germany that tenants generally install their own kitchens etc.

More people would be happy to rent in the UK if they could live there for as long as they liked and were protected from unreasonable rent increases.

It's probably banded about to try and appease us.

Like Barbara said - very different rights. My BIL is in Germany and they have just bought after working towards it for years. And when moving took "their" kitchen from the rental place with them.

The other one that confuses me is "In Germany they don't start school until 6!" Read that one time about 20 minutes after my (German) niece - who had not yet turned 3 - demonstrated correct pencil grip for me over Skype. They may not call it school but I'm pretty sure you don't learn correct pencil grip by running round a forest.

Interesting to see those countries which have above 90%. How do they manage that?

What are they doing that we aren't?

I've never said that in France more ppl rent however what I will say is that culturally it is more accepted and acceptable to rent in France and this is also linked to much higher legal protection for tenants. Yes people may aspire to home ownership but I don't think it's as big a deal as it is here. My brother is 3yrs older than me and just bought his flat (aged 35), my cousin just bought as well (aged 40) and a few others who are between 35-45yrs old are only now looking into buying. The rest are renting out. My parents are wealthy but didn't buy their main home (we did have a little countryside house though) until I was 16yrs old. The mentality is different.

I think another issue may be that "renting" means different things in different places, depending on how regulated housing provision actually is, and how secure tenancies are.

I have to say I'm amazed. I've believed the "in Europe most people rent" line for years. I wonder why this misinformation came about?

this is only anecdotal but not one of my french friends owns their own property, or has any desire to. could it be a city/country thing?

I've never said that in France more ppl rent however what I will say is that culturally it is more accepted and acceptable to rent in France

Well that's an accurate statement, however as part of UK property propaganda that translates as "most people in Europe are happy to rent". I think it's just a way of shutting down people that have asperations to own and avoiding the fact that the UK housing system has major issues.

Protection for tenants in e.g. Germany is much better than here. I used to wonder who owned all the houses, then, but apparently it's pension funds, etc., not private landlords who may be bad at maintenance, and might well give you 2 months' notice because they've decided to sell.

As for France, while staying at a BiL's place in Burgundy, I remarked to a French neighbour of his how it's commonly said in the U.K. that Brits are 'obsessed with' owning their own homes, whereas in e.g. France they're not so bothered.
'But they are!' she said. 'They are!' (Exact words in her excellent English)

but if you dig down deeper and find that it is a fact in urban areas, then if you change the statement to "most people in cities Europe are happy to rent' it become accurate.

Dont think thats true either, the more socially acceptable part from earlier is. From my limited friendship group the people I know in Madrid, Berlin and nice all want to buy somewhere eventually.

but if you dig down deeper and find that it is a fact in urban areas, then if you change the statement to "most people in cities Europe are happy to rent' it become accurate

That's true of many statistics - go beyond the headlines and dig deeper.

Simple soundbites reveal a whole complexity of realities.

In Europe, people rent when they live a mobile life - people work for a company in the South of Germany for 9 years and then move to the North, or people move between countries.
However, once they decide to settle down, they will usually buy a property. It would be interesting to see the statistics per age group.
Tenants are much more protected than in the UK, and they can indeed install their own kitchens, change the gardens, and can often only be asked to leave if the landlord himself wants to move in (case for Belgium).

In the German city where I live, almost everyone I know rents. Tenant protection laws are very strong and it takes a lot of time and money to evict someone. The flipside is that landlords are extremely picky about who they let to, because they could be stuck with you a long time.

We live in France, have done for 9 yrs and are perfectly happy to rent. But it's a totally different proposition here. one of the key differences is that in those 9 years our rent has increased by less that €100 a month, because the landlord is not allowed to increase the rent by more than a rate set by the Govt, which is tied to the annual cost of living increase. We are landlords in the UK and every 6 months it seems that our agent write to ask if we want to increase the rent: the only limit there seems to be whether the market / tenant will accept it. Plus our tenancy is far more secure and yes, we are left to decide what we want to do with the place: we can decorate, install a kitchen etc: the only criteria is that the place is in the same general condition as when we moved in. If the property is to be sold, we get a lot of notice and first right of refusal to purchase (at the very least).

I'd also suspect that in France it has never been as easy to get a mortgage as it used to be in the UK. Certainly, it costs a flipping fortune to buy here once you take into account notaires fees and all the taxes / charges. All the first time buyers in the UK that got 110% mortgages - that just didn't happen here. You always had to have a considerable deposit to buy, and most younger couples would rent while saving to buy - and they'd have to wait a lot longer.

Something else that's different here, and I don't know if / how it affects the ownership figures, is that properties stay within families a lot more than in the UK. In France, an ageing person can gift their property to a relative, yet retain the right to live there (rent free) for as long as they want to - and when they move out the property reverts to the owner: it's not required to be sold to fund the older relative's care bills. So a lot of properties stay in the family for many generations often with grandchildren and their families moving in when the old person dies or goes into residential care. We have at least 2 apartments in our block that are owned in this way,and I have several friends who are currently living with their French partners and their children in a house / apartment that is owned by a family member. I'd say that it makes the property market a lot less dynamic than in the UK.

So to return to the OP I'd say that Yes, people in France are generally happy to rent because it's secure, long-term is normal and protected, and we can make our rental places into our homes as we like - but many people still like to buy as an investment in their future, just a bit later in life than used to be the norm in the UK.