Housing gap database

Detailed data on the new mesure of housing affordability, i.e. "housing gap" described in the article Measuring the housing gap: a novel approach to assessing housing affordability. The definition of categories used in the datafile: Group A is a subsample of households that (1) use dwellings that are owner-occupied or rented at market prices and (2) are neither overcrowded nor overburdened by housing costs. Group B is a subsample of households that: (1) use dwellings that are owner-occupied or rented at market prices; (2) are either overcrowded or overburdened by housing costs or both; and (3) have incomes that fulfil either the housing credit affordability, the private rental affordability criterion, or both. Group C is a subsample of households that: (1) use dwellings that are owner-occupied or rented at market prices; (2) are either overcrowded or overburdened by housing costs or both; and (3) have incomes that fulfil neither the housing credit affordability nor the private rental affordability criterion. Group D is a subsample of households that: (1) use dwellings that are rented for free or at below-market prices; (2) are either overcrowded or overburdened by housing costs or both; and (3) have incomes that fulfil neither the housing credit affordability nor the private rental affordability criterion. Group E is a subsample of households that: (1) use dwellings that are rented for free or at below-market prices; (2) are neither overcrowded nor overburdened by housing costs; and (3) have incomes that fulfil neither the housing credit affordability nor the private rental affordability criterion. Group F is a subsample of households that: (1) use dwellings that are rented for free or at below-market prices; and (2) have incomes that fulfil either the housing credit affordability, the private rental affordability criterion, or both. Group G consists of households that couldn’t be classified elsewhere due to missing data. The housing gap was calculated as the sum of groups B, C, and D. Other data dimensions' are described in the label file. The definitions, if not denoted otherwise, are in-line with the ones used by Eurostat. Please cite as: Czerniak, A., Kroszka, J. (2026). Measuring the housing gap: a novel approach to assessing housing affordability. Housing studies. doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2025.2608615 This project was financed by the National Science Centre (NCN) grant no. 2021/43/D/HS4/01649.