Understanding Milan’s housing affordability crisis: Insights from the ReHousIn Lecture Series

A city transformed – but at what cost?

Since 2015, Milan has experienced a dramatic shift in its urban trajectory. Once labelled the “Cinderella of Europe,” the city is now widely celebrated as a global hotspot for culture, business and innovation. But this success story has come with a sharp rise in housing pressure. Real estate values have surged across virtually all neighbourhoods, including once-affordable peripheral districts undergoing regeneration. At the same time, long-term rental contracts have declined in favour of short-term, more precarious leases, pushing many households into increasingly unstable living conditions.

Despite Milan’s reputation as a wealthy city, income distribution remains highly polarised: nearly 60% of taxpayers declare less than €26,000 per year. When compared to housing costs, the gap becomes even clearer. Blue-collar workers, who make up around 40% of employees, earn an average net salary of €1,200 per month—allowing them to afford as little as 12–30 square metres depending on location. Even many white-collar salaries fail to match market rents.

Why moving outside Milan isn’t the easy fix people imagine

The lecture also explored a commonly proposed solution to Milan’s housing crisis: “If you can’t afford Milan, move outside the city.”
OCA’s extended analysis of 339 municipalities across a 60-km radius shows why this logic falls short.

While housing prices may be lower outside Milan, incomes are often lower too, rental markets are extremely limited, and commuting costs—in time and money—quickly erode any perceived savings. For many workers earning typical salaries, even towns 20–40 km away remain fundamentally unaffordable once transport and time costs are factored in. The lack of robust public transport infrastructure further deepens these inequalities: Milan remains the centre of jobs, services and culture, yet the surrounding territories are not equipped with the mobility networks needed to support decentralised living.

A growing urban–regional divide

The researchers highlight a worrying form of spatial polarisation:

• Milan centralises the most attractive economic, cultural and commercial functions, reinforcing its pull.
• Surrounding municipalities increasingly serve only as residential zones, without comparable investment or services.
• Rising prices spill outward, while transportation bottlenecks create daily struggles for the 600,000 commuters who enter Milan every day.

These dynamics deepen inequalities both within Milan and across the metropolitan region, contributing to the gradual displacement of lower-income individuals and families.

Towards a better understanding of housing inequalities

The lecture closed by linking these findings to the broader aims of the ReHousIn project, which examines how environmental and energy policies intersect with housing inequalities across Europe. Milan’s case illustrates how densification, retrofitting schemes, and green urban redevelopment—while essential—can unintentionally accelerate inequality if not designed with affordability and social inclusion in mind.

Ongoing qualitative fieldwork across selected municipalities will further illuminate how residents and local actors navigate these pressures, helping build more grounded recommendations for fairer housing policies.