Greece is one of Europe’s most apartment-driven nations, a country where flats dominate housing far beyond what most European Union members see. New Eurostat data shows 59.8% of the population lives in flats, placing Greece fourth among EU member states and roughly 12 percentage points above the bloc’s average of 47.9%.
The figures come from Eurostat’s dataset on population distribution by dwelling type and urbanisation level. Only Latvia at 65.1%, Spain at 64.7%, and Estonia at 61.3% rank higher.
The EU average of 47.9% is based on 2024, the most recent year for which a full bloc-wide figure is available. Greece’s rate has risen steadily, from 59.4% in both 2023 and 2024 to 59.8% in 2025.
Inside Greece’s flat-living pattern, city by city
The pattern holds across nearly every type of settlement. In Greek cities, about 84% of residents live in flats, compared to roughly 73% at the EU level. In towns and suburbs, the share reaches around 67%, while the EU suburban average is 43%.
Only in rural areas does Greece fall in line with broader European figures, where about 14% of rural residents live in flats, just below the EU rural average of 16%.
The reasons behind this pattern trace back to the post-World War II period. Research published in the Docomomo Journal in 2023 documents that a mid-rise building type known as the polykatoikia took hold in Greek cities after a 1929 legal arrangement.
That arrangement allowed each apartment in a building to be owned by a different person, making flat ownership the most practical and affordable entry point into the property market for middle-class families. These buildings were constructed mainly between the 1950s and 1980s.
Flats dominate housing in Greece, and costs hit hardest
While flats dominate housing across Greece, the country also carries Europe’s steepest housing cost burden. Eurostat data for 2024 shows that 28.9% of Greeks spend more than 40% of their income on housing costs, the highest share in the EU and nearly three and a half times the bloc average of 8.2%.
Overall, Greek households put an average of 35.5% of their after-tax income toward housing, again the highest in the EU, according to a January 2026 analysis by e-red.gr drawing on Eurostat figures.
Energy costs add pressure on top of that. About 19% of Greek households reported in 2024 that they could not adequately heat their homes, tied with Bulgaria for the worst rate in the EU. Homeownership, while still around 70%, has fallen by approximately 8 percentage points since 2010.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
