Home Ownership by Country 2026

Top 10 Countries with the Highest Home Ownership Rates

1. Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan has the highest home ownership rate in the world at 98%, as of 2024 data, which is the latest data available as of early 2026. The figure reflects decades of housing privatization after the Soviet era, combined with a weak rental market and a strong cultural preference for owning a family home.

2. China

Second on the list, China has an homeownership rate of 96% (2022 data). This high rate reflects decades of housing reform, rapid urban apartment ownership, and strong social and financial incentives that favor owning over long-term renting.

3. Laos

Perhaps surprisingly, Laos has the third highest homeownership rate in the world. In a 2015 study, researchers found that 95.9% of the residential buildings were owned by the occupants in a measured residential area, leaving only 4.1% of the facilities available to citizens renting their dwellings.

4. Romania

Romania has the fourth highest homeownership rate in the world at 95.6% (2023 data). Romania’s exceptionally high homeownership rate reflects large-scale post-communist privatization of housing in the 1990s, combined with strong cultural preference for owning property rather than renting.

5. Albania

Another European country, Albania, also has one of the highest homeownership rates in the world at 95.3% (2023 data). Albania’s high homeownership rate is largely driven by widespread self-built housing, multigenerational family ownership, and limited reliance on long-term rental markets.

6. Slovakia

This eastern European country is home to one of the highest homeownership rates in the world at 93.6% (2023 data). Slovakia’s high homeownership rate reflects large-scale privatization of state-owned housing after the fall of communism, combined with strong cultural preference for owning rather than renting.

7. Russia

Russia comes in seventh, with a 92.6% homeownership rate, as of 2023 data. Russia’s high homeownership rate largely stems from the post-Soviet privatization of public housing in the 1990s, which transferred millions of apartments into private hands across the country.

8. Serbia

Eight highest homeownership rate belongs to Serbia, at 91.6%, as of 2023 data. In Serbia, owning a home is often seen as a basic marker of stability, and many families live in properties passed down through generations, which helps keep rental rates relatively low.

9. Croatia

Croatia has the ninth highest homeownership rate in the world, at 91.2% (2023 data). In Croatia, homeownership is strongly tied to family inheritance and long-term residence, with many households owning homes outright rather than relying on rental markets.

10. Bosnia and Herzegovina

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, data only as recent as 2007 revealed a 91.2% homeownership rate. Like in many other European countries, homeownership in Bosnia and Herzegovina is deeply rooted in family life, with many people living in homes passed down through generations rather than relying on rental markets.

Where Home Ownership Stems From

Homeownership does not always have to come from a traditional purchase or sale of a residential property. In many countries, homeownership has been defined as a newly constructed building with the builders’ intent to occupy the dwelling. In most homeownership studies, the residential dwelling was inherited from other family members, allowing homeownership to be passed down from one generation to the next in a designated residential area.