As at 1 March 2017, a total of 142,820 residential and semi-residential buildings and 233,675 residential units have been recorded across the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, according to a 4-page report published by STATEC, Luxembourg's national statistics office.

Half of the population lives in houses that are designated and used as single-family dwellings, 35% live in apartment buildings and circa 15% in semi-residential buildings.

Houses account for just over eight out of ten (82.9%) residential buildings: detached houses are the most prevalent, accounting for 37.3% of buildings, followed by corner (end-of-terrace) houses (24.5% %) and row/terraced houses (19.4%). The 15,783 apartment buildings represent 11.1% of the building stock and 8,666 semi-residential buildings stand at 6.1%.

The geography of the housing stock is strongly related to the spatial distribution of the population. It is in the most populated urban areas that there are more dwellings, with 50,825, 14,177, 9,414 and 8,132 dwellings respectively in Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Differdange and Dudelange. Conversely, housing stock is much more limited in small rural communities, with a minimum of 297 units in Saeul, for example.

As far as the ratio of houses to apartments in municipalities is concerned, large spatial disparities can be observed across Luxembourg. The predominant type of housing depends strongly on the character of the municipality (urban-rural) and therefore on the population densities prevailing there. In rural cantons, characterised by lower population densities, a majority of houses are to be found. The municipalities of Bech, Kiischpelt and Flaxweiler are leading with about 88% of houses. On the other hand, the higher the density of the population, the greater the share of apartments. 15 municipalities have mostly apartments. Luxembourg (79.5%) is ahead of Esch-sur-Alzette (68.9%), Hesperange (62.6%) and Mondorf-les-Bains (61.7%).

Buildings constructed after 2000 represent 15.4% of the total housing. There are significant differences between different types of buildings. 77.5% of semi-residential buildings and 56.9% of apartment buildings were built before 1981. Most semi-residential buildings were built before 1945 (52.5% of the buildings). This is explained by the fact that farms (32.2% of semi-residential buildings) were built at the beginning of the last century (62.6% before 1919).

56.6% of dwellings were completed before the 1980s and 20.4% were completed after 2000. Slightly more than half (52.9%) of dwellings in apartment buildings Were built from the eighties. Slightly more than a quarter of single-family dwellings (27.1%) were completed before 1946 and about 38% were built from 1981 onwards.

The construction of single-family houses is tending to decline even if this type of building remains largely a majority. Among the buildings constructed after 2001, its share represents 80.4%, whereas it was 85.0% during the period 1946/80 and even 87.2% between 1981 and 2000. On the other hand, the share of apartment buildings (6.6% before 1919), increases over time; it represents 15.7% of buildings built since 2001. The share of semi-residential buildings is below 5% except for those built before 1945.

The trend towards more apartments

The share of dwellings in single-family houses decreased from 61.7% before 1919 to 37.7% since 2001. On the other hand, the share of dwellings in apartment buildings (18.1% before 1919, 48.7% after 2000). The proportion of dwellings in semi-residential buildings ranges from 12% to 16%, depending on the time period, except for the period "Before 1919" (20.2%).

In Summary

As at 1 March 2017, 142,820 residential and semi-residential buildings and 233,675 housing units are listed in the Register of Buildings and Housing. 82.9% of these buildings are single-family homes, 11.1% of apartment buildings and 6.1% of semi-residential buildings. 50.7% of the dwellings are single-family houses, the remainder being divided between residential and semi-residential buildings. 15.4% of the buildings and 20.4% of the dwellings were built in the 21st century. In terms of area, the dwellings in an apartment are almost twice as small as those located in a house (respectively 166m² and 91m²). Single family dwellings consist, on average, of 6.8 dwelling units, compared with 3.9 dwelling units.