Age of the residential building stock

Data on the age of the building stock give a good indication of the physical charac-teristics of buildings and therefore also an indication of the construction current at the time and the buildings’ thermal quality. However, this quality also depends on whether and to what extent these buildings have been renovated. This will be dealt with in Section 3.7. Table 3.5 and Figure 3.12 give a breakdown by different con-struction periods. Because the periods used in each country vary, estimates based on several sets of data have been used for Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom that may introduce some inaccuracies. However, the level of accuracy is good enough to describe main trends.

The pre-war dwelling stock accounts for 20% to 39% of the total dwelling stock, with the exception of Finland where this figure is only 10%. In general, the pre-war building stock is reasonably homogenous in terms of construction characteristics (see also Section 3.7).

Dwellings built after World War II and before the oil crisis account for 18% (France) to almost 38% (Sweden) of the dwelling stock. The average is 29%. This dwelling stock, which represents almost one third of the total stock, is not very homogenous.

A varied mix of construction types exists, from traditional to modern, from low rise to high-rise. A common characteristic, however, is that the buildings were generally poorly insulated at the time of construction and that there is a need for renovation (see Section 3.7 and Chapter 5).

In most countries, the dwellings built between 1970 and 1990 account for 21% to 27% of the total stock. Exceptions to this are France and the Netherlands with a share of more than 35% for this building period, and Finland with more than 43%.

In general, the dwellings built during this period are reasonably well insulated, but al-ready need some kind of renovation, especially the older ones.

<1919 1919-1944

1945-1960

1961-1970

1971-1980

1981-1990

>1990 Total

Austria¹ 19 8 12 16 15 12 18 100

Finland² 1.6 8.8 30.6 23.4 20 14.4 98.8

France³ 19.9 13.3 18 26 10.4 12.4 100

Germany⁴ 12 9 31 26 22 100

Netherlands⁵ 7.3 13.6 30.9 35.4 11.6 98.8

Sweden⁶ 12.3 14.9 37.8 17.2 9.6 8.2 100

Switzerland⁷ 25 13 26 25 11 100

United Kingdom⁸

21.7 17.5 28.1 21.6 11.1 100

1 from ISIS database, data from 2003. These data are similar to the data in Statistics in the European Union 2004, data for 2002

2 from Housing Statistics in the European Union 2004, data for 2002

3 from Housing Statistics in the European Union 2004, data for 2002

4 Data in m² from IWU, based on micro census 1998 from Housing Statistics in the European Union 2004, data for 2002, (<1919: 14.6%; 1919-1944: 12.6%; 1945-1970: 47.2%; 1971-1990: 10.9%; 1980-1990: 14.6%)

5 from Housing Statistics in the European Union 2004, data for 2002 and from KWR 2000

6 fromStatistics Sweden (data for 2005). Differs a little from Housing Statistics in the European Union 2004, data 2003 (<1919: 12.4%; 1919-1944: 17.7%; 1945-1970: 21.2%; 1971-1990: 21.8%; >1990:

18.5%)

7 Data from BFS Wohnungszählung 2000

8 Data based on English House Condition Survey 2005. Data from Housing Statistics in the European Union 2004 give a slightly different share (<1919: 20.8%; 1919-1945: 17.7%; 1946-1970: 21.2%; 1971-1980: 21.8%; 1980-1990: 18.5%)

The percentage of newly built dwellings (since 1990) appears to be almost 14% on average, varying from 8% to 22%. However, these figures should be taken with cau-tion because they are based on different types of estimates and sometimes on num-ber of dwellings and sometimes floor area. The percentage of dwellings constructed each year is given in Figure 2.15 and the percentage of dwellings demolished each year in Figure 2.16. The construction rates in 2003 are between 0.5% and 2%, with Austria having the highest rate and Sweden the lowest. In most countries, the rate is about 1%, which emphasises the importance of the existing dwelling stock in achiev-ing sustainability. The demolition rate varies between 0.025% and 0.23%, with the Netherlands having by far the highest rate and Switzerland the lowest. In the Nether-lands, less than one third of new dwellings replace demolished ones. In Switzerland, only 2% of new construction is replacement. This means that the Swiss building stock grows much more quickly than the Dutch one.

Table 3.5: Residential building stock: breakdown by period of construction (%)

Age of the residential building stock

* Data from Housing statistics in the European Union and from A. Thomsen, TU Delft

Figure 3.14: Age distribution of the housing stock

Figure 3.15: Annual construction rates as % of the total housing stock*

Figure 3.16: Annual demolition rates as % of the housing stock*

0.0%

1980198519901995 199619971998 1999 20002001 200220032004 20052006 EU

Annual new construction rates

* Data from Housing Statistics in the European Union and from A. Thomsen, TU Delft

In addition to general data on the age of the dwelling stock, in Austria, France, Ger-many, the Netherlands, and Switzerland there is also data relating to the age of the building stock by the type of dwelling (single-family or multi-family).

In Austria, the breakdown does not differ very much between single-family and multi-family dwellings. The main differences noted are that in the old building stock (built before 1919) multi-family dwellings are more highly represented (21%) than single-family dwellings (only 14%). The opposite is true for the new building stock;

15% of multi-family dwellings and 22% of single-family dwellings were built after 1990. Detailed data can be found in Appendix C, Table C.2.

For France a very detailed breakdown is available in Appendix C, Table C.3, relating building age, building type (single-family dwelling or multi-family dwelling) and ten-ure. A very large proportion of single-family houses are owner-occupied (more than 95% for the dwelling stock built before 1974 and 98% for dwellings built before 1914). This percentage decreases slightly but regularly after 1974 to 89% for build-ings built after 1998. Apartments built before 1948 are mainly owner-occupied (more than 82%). For buildings built between 1949 and 1981, owner-occupancy decreases to 50-55% and social rented increases from very low to 35-42%. Private rented apartments have quite a constant share across all the building periods, varying be-tween 3 and 7%.

In Germany there is, in addition to the breakdown into single and multi-family dwell-ings, also a breakdown into terraced houses and detached houses, see Appendix C, Table C.4 The oldest building stock is found primarily in detached dwellings and multi-family dwellings. For both categories, 13% of the dwellings were built before 1918. For terraced dwellings, this is only 5%.

For the Netherlands, a detailed breakdown is available in Appendix C, Table C.5, re-lating building age, building type and tenure. Of the single-family houses, 66% are owner-occupied and 26% social rented, which is quite an unusual situation in Europe. Half the social rented single-family dwellings are post-war and were built

be-0.000%

0.050%

0.100%

0.150%

0.200%

0.250%

1980 1982 19841986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 19982000 2002 2004

Belgium France Germany Netherlands Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom

fore the first oil crisis in the 1970s; almost no social rented single-family dwellings have been built since 1990. Half the owner-occupied single-family dwellings were built before the oil crisis. More than half the multi-family building stock is social rented, whereas owner-occupancy and private rented have an equal share (21%). One third of the multi-family building stock was built between the war and the oil crisis, and another third between 1970 and 1990.

In Switzerland, the breakdown – see Appendix C, Figure C.6 - does not differ very much between single-family and multi-family dwellings. The main differences noted are for the old dwelling stock (before 1919), which has a larger share of multi-family dwellings than single-family dwellings. The opposite is true for the dwelling stock built between 1970 and 2000.