Overview of residents' housing
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More than a third of Luxembourg's population live in properties of 150m² or more.
150 m²
Housing estate characteristics
House or apartment?
In 2021, Luxembourg's housing stock will consist mainly of apartments (52.8%) and houses (45.9%), while other types of housing (mainly farms) will consist of just 1.2% private households' housing stock.
Yet, more than half of all residents live in houses, which are generally larger and accommodate more people than apartments.
However, the distribution of the two main housing types by municipality remains heterogeneous in 2021 (Map 1). The most populous municipalities are characterized by a high proportion of apartments (over 55% of all dwellings in the municipality). By contrast, the least populated municipalities have a 75% proportion of houses.
Map 1: share of private households living in a house (A) and a flat (B) by municipality.
Older homes and newer apartments
The housing stock is well diversified in terms of era of construction: 17.3% of dwellings have been built since the population census in 2011, compared with 18.9% before 1945. The recent trend is to build more apartments than houses. As a result, the housing stock made up of houses is older than the more recent housing stock made up of apartments.
Nearly a third of homeowners declare that they have carried out energy-saving work on their property.
The 2021 census also asked homeowners about renovation work carried out in their dwellings. 29.2% said they had carried out energy-related work, 21.2% had changed windows, 14.1% had carried out roofing work, 9.0% wall work, 3.2% cellar work and 2.0% floor work (multiple answers possible).
On average, house owners are 6 times more likely than flat owners to declare that they have carried out various types of renovation work.
| Type of work completed | Type of accommodation | Total | ||||
| House | Apartment | Other | ||||
| Energetic | 23.7% | 5.0% | 0.5% | 29.2% | ||
| Windows | 17.3% | 3.6% | 0.4% | 21.2% | ||
| Roof | 12.2% | 1.6% | 0.3% | 14.1% | ||
| Wall | 7.3% | 1.7% | 0.1% | 9.1% | ||
| Cellar slab | 2.8% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 3.2% | ||
| Ground | 1.7% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 2.0% | ||
Table 1: Types of renovation work carried out by homeowner respondents, by type of dwelling (multiple responses) Notes for the reader: 29.2% of homeowners (house, apartment or other) say they have carried out energy renovation work. 23.7% of houseowners say they have carried out energy renovation work.
More than half of all homes are larger than 120m2
The 2021 census reveals that 54.4% of homes in Luxembourg have a floor area of more than 120m2. The distribution of dwellings by surface area has changed slightly since the 2011 census. Large dwellings (over 150m2) still account for over a third of all dwellings in Luxembourg, while the proportion of small dwellings (under 30m2) remains very low (1.3%).
Figure 1: Share of dwellings by surface area in 2021.
Medium-sized flats (between 60m2 and 100 m2) make up 51.2% of all flats.
Logically, households living in the least populated municipalities - where there are more houses - often have more than 80m2 per occupant. On the other hand, in Luxembourg City and the municipalities in the south where there is a high proportion of flats, a large proportion of households have less than 30m2 per person.
Map 2: surface area per occupant at municipality level for households in 2021.
Floor space per occupant and migration status
Migration status is a dividing line in terms of living space. There is a significant difference between households with a reference person of Luxembourgish nationality (the vast majority of which have more than 40m2 per occupant) and other households (the majority of which have between 20m2 and 60m2 per occupant).
However, the parents' place of birth also plays a role: 63% of households with a parent born in Luxembourg have more than 60m2 per occupant. By contrast, only 42% of households with two parents born abroad have the same floor space.
Households with a non-EU reference person are more likely to live in accommodation with less than 30m2 per occupant.
Tenants' situation
Nearly two-thirds of tenants have been living in their home for less than 5 years
In the most densely populated municipalities, a large percentage of households have been living in their home for a short time. In less densely populated areas (in the inner suburbs around the capital, in the east of the country), most households have been living in their home for more than 20 years.
More than half of tenants pay between €10 and €20 per m2 in rent.
Among the responses obtained, the 2021 census shows that of the tenants, 91.6% of the tenants pay standard rent and 8.4% pay reduced-rate rent.
On average, the rent for houses is 11€/m2, while it is 18€/m2 for flats. What's more, houses are often larger, so the rent per m2 is cheaper than for flats, which are generally smaller.
The table below uses the same rent categories but breaks them down by country of birth of the household's reference person. Households with a reference person born in Luxembourg are more likely to pay a low rent (€10/m2 or less) and less likely to pay a high rent (€25/m2 or more). This is due both to their lower concentration in urban centres and to the fact that rents during the lease are lower than for new contracts.
There are significant differences between populations born in different regions of the world. For example, households with a reference person born in an Asian country are most likely to pay high rents, followed by those with a reference person born in a country in the Caribbean, South or Central America region. These variations may be due to different preferences (size of home or its location), or to differences in socio-economic profiles.
| Country of birth | Percentage of households with a rent of €10/m2 or less | Percentage of households with a rent of €25/m2 or mores | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg | 20% | 7% | ||
| Other European Union countries | 13% | 18% | ||
| Elsewhere in Europe | 11% | 19% | ||
| Africa | 11% | 19% | ||
| Caribbean, South or Central America | 7% | 25% | ||
| North America and Oceania | 7% | 22% | ||
| Asia | 9% | 30% | ||
Source : STATEC, RP2021
Table 2: rent per m2 paid by private households by country of birth of the reference person in 2021.
In terms of total money supply, the 44,076 households paying rent in 2021 will transfer almost 60 million euros per month to their landlords, which is equivalent to almost 720 million euros per year. Of these 60 million euros paid in rent each month in Luxembourg, 22.5 million (almost 38%) come from homes rented in Luxembourg City, 3 million (5%) from homes in Esch-sur-Alzette and 2.3 million from homes in Strassen (4%).
Disclaimer
This study is the first phase of a presentation based on the data currently available from the census. We will return to the question of housing in Luxembourg in more detail at a later date. For a reminder of the terms and conditions of the census process, please consult our first publication: https://statistiques.public.lu/fr/recensement/histoire-et-apercu.html
Find out more about overview of residents' housing in Luxembourg
More results
In the coming months, various publications will be produced for the public, but also for the public specialised in demographic issues. At the same time, statistical tables on the various census topics will be published on the Statistics Portal.
Why is the census important?
Census results are essential information for public policy decision-making.
Census data help to forecast needs for land use planning, schools, nurseries, hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, housing, etc.
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