Housing stock and construction

This indicator presents available data on the housing stock and housing construction across OECD and EU countries. Data were collected through the OECD Questionnaire on Social and Affordable Housing, as well as from information available from national statistical institutes. For the scope of this indicator, by dwelling stock or housing stock, we refer to the total number of dwellings in a country. A dwelling is “a room or suite of rooms and its accessories in a permanent building or structurally separated part thereof, which by the way it has been built, rebuilt, converted, etc., is intended for private habitation. It should have a separate access to a street (direct or via a garden or grounds) or to a common space within the building (staircase, passage, gallery, etc.)” (OECD, 2001). A dwelling is considered to be occupied if it provides the usual place of residence to a household, which can include one or more persons. Among dwellings that are not occupied, we define as vacant dwellings those that are not: secondary or holiday homes or dwellings meant for seasonal use. Furthermore, we distinguish between dwellings located in urban and rural areas. Definitions of what constitutes an urban or rural area vary across countries, and are usually based on the size of locality and/or population density in a given area. Finally, data on housing construction refer to the number of dwellings that were completed during a given year and are ready to be occupied.