HousingAnywhere Rent Gap Monitor Q1 2024

• HousingAnywhere's Rent Gap Monitor reports that tenants in 28 European cities expected to find accommodation at 18.7% below market price.
• The median gap has fallen compared to 2023’s 21.6%.
• The discrepancy varies between cities, with a gap of €63 in Brussels and almost €600 in Prague.

Rotterdam, June 4th 2024 - HousingAnywhere's Rent Gap Monitor reveals that in Q1 2024 tenants across much of Europe expected to find rental accommodation at a price 18.7% lower than market rate. HousingAnywhere, Europe's largest mid-term rental platform, reports that the gap between tenants' expectations and reality is considerable, but is nearly 3 points lower than a year ago.

Djordy Seelmann, CEO of HousingAnywhere: “The slight decrease in the rent price gap suggests that tenants' expectations have come more in line with reality. However, this does not necessarily signify an improvement in housing affordability. In fact, the latest HousingAnywhere Rent Index shows that apartment prices are still rising in many cities across Europe”.

HousingAnywhere's Rent Gap Monitor compares the median price of apartments (mostly furnished) listed in the platform with the median maximum price set by users when looking for an apartment to rent in the website. The report analyzed over 3.9 million searches across 28 European cities in 12 countries in the first quarters of 2024 and 2023.

The difference between expected price and reality changes considerably across cities. On the median, tenants are looking for apartments for a price that is €248 below the market price.

In relative terms, among the 28 cities, Prague shows the largest discrepancy between expectations and rent price, at 59.7%. In the Czech capital, tenants sought apartments for a maximum of €1,002, but found them for €1,600. In absolute terms, the difference is almost €600. Hamburg, Cologne and Lisbon also register considerable discrepancies of over 30%.

Brussels is at the opposite pole, where tenants looked for apartments that were only 5.7% below the market price. While the median price for renting an apartment in the Belgian capital is €1,163, tenants searched for a maximum of €1,100, exposing a €63 gap. The discrepancy in Vienna (8.2%) and Barcelona (8.7%) is also minimal.

A significant number of cities, including Madrid, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam, have a rent price gap of between 10% and 20%.

When comparing the gap to last year, The Hague, Valencia and Turin stand out considerably. In the Spanish city, the median price of an apartment is €1,400, while tenants expected to find properties for €365 less. The gap increased substantially compared to last year’s gap of €51. In the Hague, the gap grew from €71 to €260. According to HousingAnywhere’s International Rent Index by City, these two cities registered some of the highest year-on-year increases in their rent prices. Turin, where rents increased the most, also stands out, with its gap going from €0 to €219.

At the opposite extreme, the difference between expectations and reality in Amsterdam, Bologna and Milan has decreased substantially compared to last year.

About HousingAnywhere’s Rent Gap Monitor Q1 2024

The HousingAnywhere Rent Gap Monitor compares the median rent price of the apartments advertised on HousingAnywhere (as reported by its International Rent Index by City) with the median maximum price set by users when filtering during their rental search on the platform. By comparing both figures, the Monitor exposes the gap between prices in the platform and tenants’ expectations in both relative numbers (delta) and absolute numbers (price difference in euros).

The Europe-wide gap, which includes data from the 28 cities analyzed, both in absolute and relative terms, has been calculated as a median to avoid outliers.

For the second edition of the Rent Gap Monitor, HousingAnywhere analyzed 3.9 million searches carried out by over 370,045 users seeking accommodation in 28 European cities during the first quarters of 2024 and 2023. These are the cities analyzed: Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Rotterdam, The Hague, Munich, Utrecht, Milan, Lisbon, Hamburg, Florence, Bologna, Prague, Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, Köln, Valencia, Düsseldorf, Porto, Vienna, Helsinki, Brussels, Turin, Athens, Budapest.

The report is also available in Italian and Spanish.

About HousingAnywhere’s International Rent Index Q1 2024

For this 23rd quarterly edition of the Rent Index by City, HousingAnywhere analyzed 66,997 properties that were listed and received interest from potential tenants on the platform in the past year. Data shown includes property types such as single rooms, studios, and apartments from one to three bedrooms located across 28 European cities. Out of all the apartments analyzed, 59% were one-bedroom apartments, 31% were two-bedroom apartments, and 10% were three-bedroom apartments. Approximately 97% of the listed properties were fully furnished and 61% included bills in their rent, with all listings mainly geared towards servicing young professionals and students relocating across borders. These are the 28 cities included in this edition of the report: Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Rotterdam, The Hague, Munich, Utrecht, Milan, Lisbon, Hamburg, Florence, Bologna, Prague, Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, Köln, Valencia, Düsseldorf, Porto, Vienna, Helsinki, Brussels, Turin, Athens, Budapest.

The report is also available in Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch.

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 2023 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 6 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

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