housing developments in european countries - Department of ...

Section 2
Context
Context Section 2
2.18 Luxembourg
2.18.1 Policy Making and
Implementation
Its most recent Statement on housing policy, issued in
August 1999, commits the government of Luxembourg
to ‘… conducting an active housing policy in close
collaboration with the communes and public
developers’. Within this context, the Statement pledges
that particular attention will be paid to land
management and to land speculation in order to
promote housing development in urban areas and to
avoid the retention for speculative purposes of building
land that is ready to be developed. Furthermore, the
government will favour all initiatives from public
developers that are geared towards creating
rehabilitation zones and land reserves.
With a view to creating a stock of rental housing that
meets the needs of the population for the short term
and the medium term, the Statement reports that the
government will appreciably increase the subsidy
granted to the various public developers for the
creation of social rental housing. In a general way, the
government will pursue State-controlled initiatives to
facilitate home ownership, while keeping the different
types of aid available at present and while allocating
this aid more judiciously.
According to the Statement, within the framework of
the tax reform, personal effort in forming the initial
capital to become a home owner will be encouraged
more, as will investment in the acquisition, the
renovation and the rehabilitation of housing for
personal occupation. In the spirit of achieving
sustainable development, the Statement also commits
government to promoting the purchase of old
dwellings for renovation and to continuing with the
work that has already been started on introducing a
housing report card (carnet de l’habitat). The latter
scheme enables home owners to employ an
appropriately trained expert to assess the quality of
their dwelling from the point of view of comfort,
hygiene, health, security, stability, technology, energy
consumption and social aspects. The expert also
recommends measures to resolve each fault or defect
noted. The aim of this measure is to preserve and
improve the existing heritage. In addition, the
government also plans to stimulate the rehabilitation
of rental housing by amending the law on leases.
2.18.2 Stock
In 2001, the total number of occupied dwellings in
Luxembourg was 171,953, which constitutes 391.7 per
1,000 inhabitants. This is below the average for the
countries under examination. According to the 2001
census of the population, approximately 70% of
households owned their dwelling and 29% were
renters. In addition, the census indicates that there
were 9,534 housing units for older people aged over
60 years.
Data from 2002 indicate that the stock of public
rented dwellings in Luxembourg stood at 2,550 units.
This was distributed among a number of landlords: the
housing fund (1,402 dwellings), City of Luxembourg
(550 dwellings), Ville d’Esch-sur-Alzette (402
dwellings) and other public property developers
(approximately 200 dwellings). This type of housing
thus represented approximately 1.5% of the total
housing stock in Luxembourg, or 5% of the total stock
of rental housing.
The 2001 census found that 87% of all households in
Luxembourg live in a single-family house, and that 8%
reside in apartments. In addition, according to the
census, 2.33% of the housing stock, accounting for
4,015 dwellings, was vacant. This is the lowest rate of
vacant dwellings amongst the countries under
examination.
TABLE 2.18.1 provides some additional information on
the housing stock in Luxembourg. It reveals that in
2001 26.6% of dwellings were constructed before
1946. In the same year only a negligible number of
dwellings lacked all basic amenities such as a bath,
shower, lavatory and central heating.
Table
2.18.1
Category Total Owner Non owner Not specified
No. No. No. No.
Dwellings by period of construction < 1946 45,094 29,921 13,644 1,529
> 1946 120,336 81,986 33,995 4,355
Not specified 3,768 1,744 1,644 380
Dwellings by type and availability
of amenities No With With With
bath/shower, bath/shower, bath/shower, bath/shower,
no lavatory no lavatory with lavatory with lavatory,
and no and no no with
central heating central heating central heating central heating
2.18.3 Economy
TABLE 2.18.2 includes details of some key recent
economic trends in Luxembourg. It reveals that after a
marked increase between 1998 and 2001, the rate of
increase in GDP in the country has fallen to 1.8% in
2003 (provisional data). Since 1996 both inflation and
unemployment have remained low in comparison to
most of the other countries that are examined in this
review.
2.18.4 Demography
On 1 January 2004 the population of Luxembourg
totalled 451,600 inhabitants, corresponding to a total
population increase of 0.74% since 2003. As revealed
in TABLE 2.18.3, the population of Luxembourg has
increased significantly in recent years. During the
No. No. No. No.
House 17 43 634 10,220
Apartment 17 23 218 17,661
Table
2.18.2
Characteristics of the Housing Stock in Luxembourg, 2001
Economic Trends in Luxembourg, 1996-2002
period from 1994 to 2004 alone, the population
increased by 50,700 inhabitants, corresponding to an
increase of 4,610 persons per annum. The table also
demonstrates that this trend is the result of relatively
high levels of positive net migration since the mid-
1990s. However, this may be changing. In 2002, the
migratory surplus was less than that in 2001. It was
2,650 units or –20%. In 2003, the migratory balance
was +2,073 persons (12,613 arrivals, 10,540
departures). Natural increase is also contributing to
population growth in Luxembourg, albeit at a less
significant rate than net migration, but long-term
trends in this regard have also displayed signs of
change in recent years. In 2003, the number of live
births was 5,303 compared to 5,345 in 2002. In 2003,
the number of deaths was noticeably greater than that
registered in 2002 (4,053 compared to 3,744). This
represents an increase of 8.2%. It is also interesting to
Category 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
% % % % % % % %
Change in GDP 3.3 8.3 6.9 7.8 9.1 1.2 1.2 1.8
(prov.)
Change in the harmonised index
of consumer prices 1.2 1.4 1.0 1.0 3.4 2.4 Nav Nav
Unemployed persons as a % of the labour force 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.4 2.3 2.1 Nav Nav
58 European Union Report
Regular National Report on Housing Developments in European Countries
59