Compared to their European compatriots, teachers here have a hard time buying homes. As one example, a new European Housing Report found that in nine of their 24 European countries, it would now take them 15-20 years to be able to buy homes of their own. At a time when housing affordability is increasingly a central issue across the entire continent, that’s a big deal. In other countries, teachers are treated better than they are here.
Ireland has become the cheapest country for teachers to run a home purchase in of the 24 countries studied. In contrast, Hungary is by far the most unaffordable country for homeownership. Teachers there would require over 35 years’ worth of salary—about 443 months—to purchase a 100 square meter home. These results shine a light on an alarming issue — teacher shortages across the European Union. Even when duly funded, these shortages often compound with low wages and high workloads.
Disparities in Homeownership Affordability
The report highlights that the equivalent number of monthly salaries required for teachers to purchase a standard 100 m² home varies widely. In Spain, teachers are required to deposit 112 months of their salaries. Dutch educators have a somewhat higher hurdle to clear, needing to cut 114 months. Flemish Community Belgian teachers must save over 120 months of salary. Teachers in Denmark only have to contribute for 126 months.
In Luxembourg, Germany, Portugal and England teachers will have more relatively moderate housing costs to look forward to. Nationally, they only require about 15 years of salary to afford a home. In fact, this implies that the real cost of teaching salaries could be much lower in those areas. Yet, these housing costs are affordable by international standards.
Andrew Lifford, Casework and Subscriptions Manager at EDAPT, noted the challenges young teachers face:
“For young teachers starting out, especially in the South East and in London, home ownership will be unrealistic unless supported with a large deposit by parents.”
The Situation in Hungary
And when it comes to comparing Hungary with other European nations, the contrast is particularly harsh. As housing prices take off, teachers can’t survive anymore with an average gross monthly salary of only €967. The cost of a standard 100 m² home was literally just over €284,637 on average. While this may be jaw-dropping, it nonetheless represents 106 times the statutory salary of a lower secondary teacher.
Then, for the case of Hungary, educators are driven out of the housing market. The crisis poses urgent questions around recruitment and retention into the profession at a time of rising teacher shortages across Europe.
The Broader Context of Teacher Shortages
Today, the EU’s Education and Training Monitor 2023 report confirms this alarming trend. Indeed, at least 24 of the EU countries are currently facing acute teacher shortages. These shortages are most commonly attributed to low wages and the extreme workload which drives people away from pursuing the profession.
The affordability crisis in housing would only add to these barriers. As Lifford points out, the current housing market is untenable for many educators without significant financial support from their families.
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