Tiny Grand Duchy of Luxembourg faces a major housing crisis

euronews (in English)

Luxembourg's high wages are a powerful magnet for would-be migrants but while the minimum wage exceeds 2,300 euros a month, house prices start at around 10,000 euros per square metre.

Transcript

00:00 The tiny Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is facing a major housing crisis.

00:05 Protests like this by residents unable to pay rent or buy a home are increasingly frequent

00:11 in one of the richest countries in the world, where GDP per capita exceeded 125,000 euros

00:17 last year.

00:18 "It's not new, it's been around for years, but it's gotten worse over the years.

00:23 And it's because Luxembourg is attractive financially, so you have a lot of workforce

00:29 who are interested in coming to work in Luxembourg."

00:31 "We have to leave, to go to the other side of the border to be able to find a place to

00:36 live, but not necessarily need to be a foreigner.

00:38 And the young people who have always lived in Luxembourg, once they leave their parents'

00:43 home, they have to go to the other side."

00:47 Luxembourg is a very small and densely populated country, but there are other factors that

00:52 have contributed to the current housing crisis.

00:55 "The problem is that all housing production has been oriented for 30 years towards a production

01:03 for investors and less and less for the first-time buyers.

01:06 And now that investors have turned away from housing because of the increase in interest

01:10 rates, there is no more production and the situation is catastrophic."

01:15 Luxembourg's prosperity is a powerful magnet for would-be migrants.

01:20 While the minimum wage exceeds €2,300 a month, house prices start at around €10,000

01:27 a square metre.

01:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended