Becoming the owner of your home is a dream that is becoming increasingly difficult for Belgians to achieve. Faced with constantly increasing prices, prospective buyers must find solutions or give up on their dream.
A good example is worth a thousand words: in 1993, with an average salary, if you devoted your entire salary to the purchase of an average house, you would have had to work for 6 years and three months for it. to offer. In 2023, that’s double the time it will take you to acquire that same house.
The example is even more striking for apartments. 30 years ago, this accommodation represented two and a half years of work. Today, it is worth 11 years and 3 months’ salary. The ratio has therefore more than quadrupled.
“You have to make concessions“, lamented Augustin, a young buyer we had met.
The increasingly essential call to parents
Faced with this relentless reality, young buyers, and those whose wallets are the most deprived, find themselves very limited in their purchasing possibilities. One solution among others, but not accessible to everyone either: ask parents for help.
At the end of 2023, our major RTL info barometer Ipsos Le Soir revealed that the majority of Belgians think that young people can no longer buy real estate without the help of their parents. An opinion shared by 76% of Walloons and 71% of Brussels residents.
“We see it very clearly in the visits“, notes Christophe Hendrix, director of a real estate agency. “The mother-in-law gives her opinion, the father gives his opinion. Sometimes they participate in negotiations and they assist the young people because the own funds must be present.”
The type of goods sought after is also changing. Over the years, young buyers are turning more towards smaller and/or less well insulated homes, which are therefore less expensive.
Towards a housing crisis?
The majority of Belgians also agree that banks must reduce the criteria for providing capital. This is the case for 65% of Walloons and 60% of Brussels residents.
Currently, for a property estimated at 350,000 euros, “we can start with an envelope of 80,000 euros of equity“, details notary Edouard-Jean Navez. “This is a significant amount that many young people do not have.“, he admits.
When help from family (or another solution) is not possible, young people prefer to postpone their purchase or set their sights on a building to renovate. A less expensive practice.
As a result of this whole situation, the average age of a first-time buyer has never been higher: 34 years old. About fifteen years ago, this age was 28. In this sense, several housing market experts have published an open letter to denounce the situation. According to them, finding a roof at affordable prices will be more and more complicated. “The observation is clear: we are heading towards an unprecedented housing crisis“, they warn. In 2019, seven out of ten Walloon households could acquire a property for 240,000 euros. Today, this same property costs 312,000 euros. Only four out of ten households can buy it.
“This means that we have a reduction in accessibility to property of 30%. How is this explained? The increase in construction materials, the increase in interest rates which is also extremely important and also the difficulty of obtaining mortgage loans today with the banks which are tightening the screws a little behind“, analyzes Hugues Kempeneers, general director of Embuild Wallonie.
While waiting to be able to make a purchase or not being able to do so one day, young people are increasingly turning to rentals. “There are more and more tenants“, notes Thibaut Techy, real estate agent. “People go into rental thinking they’ll keep it for a few years before perhaps switching to a purchase.“.
Fewer buyers, but an increasing demand for rentals, the prices of the latter are boosted. In the capital, rents have increased by more than 8% in 2023. For example, to rent an apartment in Brussels, you need to pay on average 1,200 euros per month. To reduce costs, more and more young people are turning to shared accommodation.
Without a favorable change in the situation, the signatories of the open letter fear for the future of certain groups such as young people, single people, the elderly or even already precarious households.
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