Nation of Renters or Homeowners?

As seen in data from the Statista Consumer Insights survey, the number of renters and homeowners varies significantly between different nations. While in some places, like Indonesia, more than 80 percent of people own their main residence, this number is as low 24 percent in the United Arab Emirates and only around 35 percent in Germany and Switzerland.

A myriad of factors govern the housing market, who can afford or who makes the decision to rent or to buy. Interestingly, poorer nations generally produce more homeowners, as buying, building or renovating a modest home or buying a plot of land can be associated with lower cost in these places, especially in rural areas, if building codes are not strict and tax payments are low. Additionally, real estate can take on a bigger role as an investment or a retirement plan in developing countries as the availability of financial products or governmental plans might be poor.

Besides Indonesia, high ownership rates over or around 70 percent could be observed in Malaysia, Brazil, India, the Philippines, Mexico and Vietnam, but also Poland, Italy and Singapore. In the latter three nations, more people owned an apartment instead of a house, however, which was also the case in South Korea (total ownership 62 percent), Spain (66 percent) and Finland (49 percent).

In richer countries, building, renovating and buying is often associated with high costs for material, labor and taxes. These nations are also those typically relying on mortgages to facilitate homeownership. Germany, which has one of the lowest homeownership rates in the OECD, can chalk some of this up to prohibitive taxes and mortgage rates. Unlike other nations, Germany does not give rate cuts to owner-occupiers, therefor passing up another opportunity to foster homeownership and make it more accessible. Other places with low homeownership rates in the survey were Saudi Arabia (42 percent) and Sweden (43 percent). In the United States, 45 percent of people owned their residences, slightly below the rates in Japan, the Netherlands or Canada.

In poorer as well as in wealthier countries, taking on part of the labor of building or renovating as an individual or a family can bring down costs a lot. Likewise, countries where homeownership is seen as aspirational can expect to see more people pursue it.