Three versions of the housing cost rate

The housing cost rate, defined as the weight of total housing costs in the household disposable income, is a widely used indicator. Computed from actual household expenditures (rent or possible loans repayment, charges, etc), it decreases with the income and it is higher for tenants than it is for owners. However, the indicator does not put on the same level both of them since the cost of owner-occupied housing services is seldom taken into account in these statistics, while that of tenants is systematically integrated, through the rent.

Compared to a reference situation where only actual expenditures are taken into account, the integration of the cost of owner-occupied housing services rises the general rate from 19% to 22%. The gap between owners and tenants is appreciably tightening.
With the same definition of housing cost rate, in a Europe reduced to a dozen of countries, the report is identical: differences between tenure statuts are narrowing even if tenants keeps on paying relatively more for accommodation than the other categories, especially in Spain with a housing cost rate of 37%, and outright owners less, especially in France and Portugal, with respectively a 18% and a 13% rate.