Luxembourg's housing squeeze, by the numbers

Ask residents to name Luxembourg's biggest problem and most will give the same answer: housing. For two decades, the cost of buying or renting a home has climbed faster than incomes, turning a prosperous country into one where even well-paid professionals struggle to find somewhere to live.

The demand side

Luxembourg's population has grown rapidly, driven by inward migration to staff a booming economy. Each new resident needs a home, and household sizes are shrinking, so demand for dwellings rises faster than the population itself. The Greater Region's cross-border workers add further pressure at the edges.

The supply side

Supply has not kept pace. Buildable land is scarce and concentrated in the hands of relatively few owners; planning and permitting are slow; and a large share of zoned land sits undeveloped. The result is a structural shortage that pushes prices and rents upward year after year.

The policy response

Governments have tried a range of remedies — subsidies for buyers, incentives to mobilise land, investment in public and affordable housing, and tax measures aimed at vacant property. None has yet reversed the trend. Housing now shapes everything from where people can work to whether young Luxembourgers can stay in the country they grew up in, which is why it dominates every election and sits at the centre of this section's coverage.