9,100 kroner for a room in Østerbro, Copenhagen. Just 9 square meters.
This is the description of a rental that was shared in one of the larger Facebook groups for housing seekers, around September 1. The date marks a time of year when many young people move to the capital to begin their studies.
Therefore, they need a roof over their heads – something that can result in a bigger struggle than getting into their dream program. At least if you believe the Facebook groups that effectively function as housing markets in Copenhagen
62-year-old Michael Lykke is a retired special educator and a member of various groups because he occasionally searches for homes for his acquaintances. He usually doesn’t engage with the posts – but the room for over 9,000 kroner in Østerbro made him so angry that he had to respond:
»I couldn’t help it when I saw it. It’s 1,000 kroner per square meter. It’s completely unrealistic for that to be the price of a room«, he says.
Curt Liliegreen, director of the The Knowledge Centre for Housing Economics, estimates that over 9,000 kroner per month for a room with access to a shared living room and kitchen sounds »very expensive«. Nonetheless, the rent for the room in Østerbro represents a much larger trend in the capital, according to him:
»Copenhagen has become a popular city. It has gone from being a rundown city with a declining population to being a city with population growth and many educated people – an attractive city of international standard«, he says and continues:
»Since the financial crisis, 160,000 residents have moved in – this drives prices up because there hasn’t been enough construction. When the few owner-occupied homes in Copenhagen are pushed up in price, it affects all other markets – that includes the rental market«, he says.
Two friends write in another post in the same Facebook group that their »maximum rent« is 16,000 kroner per month. Others have set a cap at 6,500 kroner for a room, while posts where landlords offer homes receive countless inquiries in the comments section.
»It’s a completely predictable housing crisis, which began after the financial crisis, when an increasing number of singles couldn’t afford to live alone anymore«, Curt Liliegreen explains.
Housing challenges have worsened
A study from 2025 shows that housing policy is the municipal political area that engages young voters the most. The study was conducted by Epinion for the Danish Youth Council (DUF) among 18- to 30-year-olds.
This doesn’t surprise Curt Liliegreen:
»In other countries – for example, Southern European countries – housing policy plays a larger role because they have much bigger problems than we do in Denmark«, he says:
»The fact that young people in Denmark are now most concerned with housing policy is a sign that housing challenges have worsened«.
Curt Liliegreen estimates that the rental market in Copenhagen will get even worse in the future. He points to continued population growth and the lack of new homes:
»Young people in education are only vulnerable in the short term. I’m thinking of groups like young unskilled workers, who are also vulnerable in the long term in the housing market. They are being pushed out of the cities«, he says.
When 62-year-old Michael Lykke saw the post about a room for over 9,000 kroner, he thought it had to be a »joke«. That was also the tone in his comment, to which the young female landlord replied:
»No, it’s not a joke? It’s just super expensive to live on one of the nicest and oldest streets in Østerbro«.
Michael Lykke says that the prices in the specific Facebook group have »gone completely wild«:
»I regularly see rentals for 6-, 7-, 8,000 kroner for a room – and that’s just insane«.
