New set of EU recommendations on housing policies

After the publication of the country reports in April, the European Commission has now published its recommendations to the member states on how to address their main challenges.

As every year, a number of countries get some comments on their housing markets, since the European Commission looks at housing market trends as one of the areas determining potential instability.

Beyond the traditional call to liberalise the rent system in Sweden, to further align rents with incomes in the Netherlands or to loosen the planning rules in the UK to increase the supply of housing, there are new comments for instance for France about overall cost of housing policies- higher than in other EU member states- compared to its results. 

What are cost effective housing policies? An interesting and complex question which will be addressed at our event in the Committee of the Regions on 20 June. Another question is whether the analysis of the European Commission on the national housing markets is accurate and complete. National or regional housing federations struggle to be involved in the discussion on the country reports and recommendations. There is still a lot to do to make the European Semester something of good quality and relevant for housing policy makers and practitioners.

Housing Europe will continue its efforts, in particular through exchange with its members at our next Working Committee meetings on 13 and 14 June.