European Housing Policy Development Goes South

• HousingAnywhere publishes its second annual Public Policy Digest, revealing three key tensions obstructing the European rental housing market.
• Urgent need to address and respond to the rapid change of Gen Z’s living preferences calls for a paradigm shift.
• Southern European countries stand out for their proactive approach, learning from the mistakes of their Northern peers.

Rotterdam, February 15th - HousingAnywhere, Europe’s largest mid-term rental platform, publishes its second annual Public Policy Digest, calling for a paradigm shift from addressing ‘housing problems’ to finding ‘home solutions’. After last year’s first edition of the Public Policy Digest, the current report highlights three main tensions that underscore a deep-rooted issue: the structural shortage of housing supply. These are a lack of responsive and flexible regulation, a lack of a holistic approach on people’s living, and the lack of collaboration between potential solution providers.

You can read the full report in English here.

Generation Z's proclivity for international mobility, and the expanding senior population's (65+) evolving needs, make it imperative to move towards flexible residential housing.

Real estate investors have grasped this change in demand (with countries such as Spain successfully experiencing the development of new living concepts such as coliving), but policymakers are often failing to support these new living typologies across Europe. With rent-prices rising in major European cities due to the imbalance between a growing demand and a shortage in supply, the need for policies to encourage these new developments is crucial. To do so, policymakers ought to recognize the right balance between incentives and restrictions to achieve Triple A (Availability, Affordability and Accessibility) of rental housing.

Djordy Seelmann, CEO of HousingAnywhere: “As people's housing needs and wants change, new living typologies emerge. Technology-induced innovations speed-up changes. We all know this and we all talk about it. Often, however, the actual changes are not reflected in policy discussions. When failing to adapt to the evolving needs of society, policies inadvertently end up regulating an obsolete reality, thereby losing their primary efficacy and relevance.”

Housing serves as a foundation of living, significantly influencing the choices individuals can make in their pursuit of success in life, and is especially interconnected with learning and working. HousingAnywhere highlights the challenging cases of the Netherlands and Germany as a call for countries to place housing at the heart of their internationalization policies if they wish to attract and retain talents sustainably. A holistic approach with shared goals on housing (KPIs) between intertwined policy arenas can prevent silo-thinking.

Embracing diversity, policies should be crafted collaboratively to promote the coexistence of various housing options, optimizing provision for diverse needs and wants. Private and public rental housing, as well as house ownership, play a complementary role. Amongst others, the Digest highlights the Italian efforts: as the country faces student protests against rising rents, the government is showcasing a political intention to expand the supply of student accommodation, and is incentivizing private investors as well as public-private partnerships.

HousingAnywhere advocates for an overarching recommendation to serve as a starting point: Press the reset button and shift the paradigm from addressing ‘housing problems’ to finding ‘home solutions’. While acknowledging the complexity of housing and its intertwined policy arenas, a shift towards a more interconnected, collaborative, and holistic approach to housing regulations will undoubtedly pave the way for transformative solutions in the face of common housing challenges.

You can read the full report in English here.

About HousingAnywhere

HousingAnywhere is Europe’s largest mid-term rental platform. With Kamernet and Studapart under its umbrella, it represents three fast-growing brands with over 30 million yearly unique visitors combined, 160,000+ properties available for rent and 100,000+ tenants securing their new homes, based on the 2022 performance. HousingAnywhere serves young professionals and students, primarily aged between 18 and 35, connecting them with accommodation providers. Through its advanced technology platform, tenants rent accommodation for 3 to 12 months outside of their country of origin. Headquartered in Rotterdam, HousingAnywhere operates in most European cities and recently expanded to key cities in the US, establishing a presence in over 125 cities. Driven by the mission to enable people to live wherever and however they choose thanks to a flexible renting experience, the technology scale-up employs 340 professionals globally.

Press Contact

For more information, please contact press@housinganywhere.com. For more reports, go to the press main page.