Thereby, after several studies dedicated to topics like savings, financial competence, pensions in Europe, residential real estate or financial behaviour, mobile banking and social media, IIS focuses again on real estate but from a different point of view.

This IIS polled 12,000 people in 12 countries in Europe.

What do Luxembourg residents think?

Perception of real estate
To the question “Do you think that residential real estate prices will rise or fall over the next 12 months?”, 70% of Luxembourg residents surveyed in 2013 (74% in 2012) answer that they are expecting real estate prices to go on rising. This proves that they still show some optimism but a bit less than last year.

Concerning their capacity to pay back their credit, only 13% of Luxembourg residents find it difficult to do it every month (which is twice as less as the European average of 29%). For 54% of them, this is neither complicated, nor particularly easy.

For a big part of Luxembourg respondents, it is also important to own their house: 42% of them are owners (totally or at least jointly) of their house, compared to 20% for the European average.

Living in the house of their dreams but not at any price!
Following the question whether it is important for Luxembourg respondents to live in the house of their dreams, it appears that they are more willing to do so than most of their neighbours, with 81% for Luxembourg compared to 53% for Germany, 59% for the Netherlands and 76% for the European average. However, only a few of them are ready to go to the limit of their credit capacity, with a percentage of 14%, compared to 25% for the European average.

Concerning the motivations explaining why people buy a house, more than 50% of Luxembourg residents say that owing a home is a purely financial decision (compared to 65% for the European average) and this can be explained by their vision of rising real estate prices.

Importance of location
To the question to know whether they are ready to move to another country for professional reasons, only 15% of Luxembourg residents answered “yes”, compared to 28% for the European average. This could be explained by the better job prospects in the Grand-Duchy, by a still relatively low unemployment rate compared to neighbouring countries or by a better quality of life. Also, 47% of the respondents live in a stand alone house, which represents nearly twice as more than the European average (24%).

Concerning the location of housing, it appears that the younger people (less than 35 years old) are more attached to being close to their friends and family than those who are older (35 years and more). In terms of gender, it appears that more women (47%) than men (37%) prefer to be close to their family and friends than to live in the home of their dreams without that proximity, at least if they had the choice!

In order to get more information about the 6th study of ING International Survey, please consult the « IIS » section of the www.ezonomics.com Internet site.