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Albania ranks second after Turkey for the high percentage of the population suffering from housing problems on a European scale, according to Eurostat data (database) for 2023.
Our country has 12.7% of the total population facing insecure housing, well above the European Union average of around 4%, trailing only Turkey with 19.7%. This is happening at a time when the country is involved in a wave of new construction on the coast and in urban areas and, on the other hand, the resident population is shrinking rapidly.
Nearly one in eight people living in Albania face serious housing shortages, indicating significant difficulties in living in adequate and affordable housing.
In Western and Northern European countries, this indicator is below 2% in countries such as Malta, Finland, the Netherlands or Switzerland.
The difference is very deep between Albania and European countries in access to housing, which reflects the lower level of income and the lack of effective social policies for housing.
Even in relation to the region, Albania appears worse than most of its neighbors, such as Serbia and North Macedonia, where only 7 percent of their population has housing problems. Only Turkey presents an even more extreme situation.
The European Union considers housing as one of the most critical dimensions of poverty because it affects the quality of life, especially for the most vulnerable groups.
Affordable housing is becoming increasingly difficult for Albania, as wages are growing much more slowly than rents. They were the group with the highest price increase in November 2025, at 6.7 percent, further strengthening the trend that started in the summer of this year and becoming the main component of inflation in November, displacing food.
Rental market agents point out that very few properties are listed at prices of 300-350 euros, mainly in the “Astir” or “Fresku” suburbs, which are immediately taken by tenants.
In the residential rental segment, at the beginning of this year, rental prices for 1+1 apartments in Tirana have reached up to 900 euros per month in the most sought-after areas of the city. Data from real estate agencies show that the rental market is marking continuous growth, with prices increasing on average by 6 to 57% in just one year.
In this climate of high costs, wages are growing less. During the third quarter of 2025, the average gross monthly wage for a salaried employee in Albania was 83,300 lekë, an increase of 7.3%, compared to the third quarter of 2024. Low wages make it difficult for poor families to afford housing costs, especially in large cities where prices and rents have increased much faster than wages.
On the other hand, the housing market is largely investment-oriented, with a significant portion of new construction serving as financial assets or for tourism, rather than as affordable housing for local residents. This has reduced the real supply of housing for low-income groups.
The situation is made more difficult by the fact that the Albanian government does not implement social policies in terms of sufficient housing to alleviate the problem that has arisen. Social housing programs have been limited nationwide. At the same time, high emigration and internal migration from rural areas to cities have put additional pressure on the urban housing market, increasing demand in areas where supply is already expensive./ Monitor
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