Last week, Eurostat reported (see our issue last week) that the Maltese have the lowest housing cost in Europe.
In the European Union, more than half (59.3%) of the population were living in houses and 40.0% in flats in 2014.
A majority of people in the EU were owners of their dwellings, with over two-thirds (70.1%) of the population living in owner-occupied dwellings, while 29.9% were renting their dwelling.
One of the key challenges of public policy is to provide decent housing for everyone, both in terms of cost and quality. Regarding housing affordability, 11.4% of the EU population were confronted in 2014 with housing cost overburden, meaning that they had to spend more than 40% of their disposable income for their accommodation.
In 2014, the housing cost overburden was by far the highest in Greece, where 40.7% of the population were living in a household where total housing costs represented more than 40% of total disposable household income. It was followed at a distance by Germany (15.9%), Denmark (15.6%), the Netherlands (15.4%) and Romania (14.9%).
At the opposite end of the scale, Malta (1.6% of the total population), Cyprus (4.0%), France and Finland (both 5.1%) registered the lowest housing cost overburden rates.
This means, in practice, that as regards owner-occupation, Malta is in the highest EU cohort (although not the highest one, which is reserved, rather ironically, to Romania, not otherwise known for its affluence). Greece, to name the country with the highest cost burden, is not so far from the Maltese ownership levels, with 74% owning their houses and 26% renting. But then the costs the Greeks face are tremendous: In 2014, the housing cost overburden was by far the highest in Greece, where 40.7% of the population were living in a household where.
The fact that only 1.6% of the total population of Malta face total housing costs that represent more than 40% of the total disposable household income surely represents one huge factor that explains Malta's enduring affluence and why Malta was not affected by the crisis.
The fact that, for instance, 15.9% of Germans and 11.4% of the EU population face costs rising above 40% of the total disposable household income surely hampers the standard of living of the people involved. Considering, for instance, the costs for food, heating, travel, etc, that means that for whole segments of the population life is really hard.
There are then two other factors that emerge from the Eurostat figures.
In 2014 in the EU, 17.1% of the population were living in overcrowded households, meaning they had a lack of space given the size of the household.
Across Member States, 1 out of 2 persons were living in overcrowded households in Romania (52.3% of the population). Hungary (44.6%), Poland (44.2%), Bulgaria (43.3%), Croatia (42.1%), Latvia (39.8%) and Slovakia (38.6%) also registered high shares of the population living in overcrowded households.
In Malta, this figure decreases to just 4.0% and Malta is the fourth-lowest in the EU.
That explains why Malta is so high in the satisfaction stakes.
On a scale from 0 ("not satisfied at all") to 10 ("fully satisfied"), EU residents aged 16 and over rated their satisfaction with accommodation at 7.5.
Among the EU Member States, satisfaction with accommodation was highest in the three EU Nordic Member States - Finland (8.4/10), Denmark (8.3/10) and Sweden (8.2/10) - as well as in Austria (8.3/10) and the Netherlands (8.1/10).
At the opposite end of the scale, populations with the lowest rated satisfaction for accommodation were those living in Bulgaria (6.0/10), Latvia and Greece (both 6.6/10).
Malta was registered at 7.9/10, that is in the tenth place.
This final figure, taking into account the relative GDP size and other measures of the standard of living, explains why the Maltese have been having it so good.