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Ah yes, people in the "richest" countries have it the worst, wonder how that happened. As a german i really just want to leave this shithole and move to Scandinavia already
What you need to make an opinion is historical data, not just the current situation. It might also be a cultural phenomenon in your country and ownership might have always been lower, we don't know with just one picture, but it sure does work wonders to make people angry and divided.
Germany has a huge problem with "landlord companies"(don't know what they're exactly called. Basically more than half of the appartments in Berlin are owned by two big companies, and either one of them did absorb the other recently or they're in the process of it, I haven't kept up to date. They're has been public referrendums with way more than 50% supporting the expropriation of those appartments in Berlin, yet nothing has been done by the local government even though experts have already confirmed that it would be completely legal and in compliance with our basic law(something similar to the ammendments in america).
They have the bigger lobby
Definitely should have provided some context there instead of just whining polemically, appreciate it.
I'm sure several factors lead to this, population density might be another one. But the truth is that the housing market in germany is pretty fucked right now. Not enough houses are being built because of absurd regulations and real estate companies are buying up the remaining ones just to jack up prices, often even without allowing people to live there.
Rents and property prices are skyrocketing as a result. I'm 31 and make about 50k a year, which is pretty much the median salary here, and with about 60% of my salary evaporating just for renting a one bedroom apartment outside of the city, ever buying my own property seems impossible to achieve.
Also, our government right know somehow expects the middle class to pay for CO2 neutrality in addition to everything else, while rich people barely get taxed and mega corporations receive billions in subsidies to build environment destroying factories.
People are so frustrated with this that they vote for right wing parties (in fucking Germany of all places), because every other party is too fucking tone deaf to do something about social equity
Just that the right wing parties are the least friendly towards social equity, they just make the people feel like they are. They're constantly making decisions that heavily impact lower income households, but run around telling their followers that the other parties are taking stuff away from them. The rise of the AfD is quite scary and the self called "centrist" parties are basically doing nothing to stop it and are fueling the runovers to the AfD. I'm sure you know this, I just wanted to give some more context to your right wing party argument.
Yes totally, reading my comment again it almost sounds like the AfD would be the only viable solution for social equity. They're facist scammers and will make everything even worse.
I just meant to say that many people feel paralyzed by the status quo and are voting for them out of frustration.
I got that, I knew exactly what you meant knowing the whole picture. I just thought it would sound a bit wrong to people not understanding the situation.
I’m 31 and make about 50k a year … and with about 60% of my salary evaporating just for renting a one bedroom apartment outside of the city …
50k a year is 2660 € per month with taxes deducted. 60% are 1600 €.
WTF! This must be a golden apartment with butler.
TBH I don't believe you.
I'll admit it was a pretty rough estimation. I make more like 47k. My rent is 1.045€ including extra charges and a parking spot (the parking spot was not optional) for a 65m² apartment JUST within the city limits of Hamburg. If you wanna include costs for electricity and internet i'm looking at about 1200€ per month just to live there so i feel like my point still stands. Nothing golden about it and sure can't afford a butler, but thanks for actually doing the math.
So it's more like 42% including heat.
And the one bedroom apartment is probably a flat with three rooms plus bathroom.
UK here. We actually look at Germany as 'renting done right'. Our rental market is an absolute disaster and it's showing no signs of slowing down, heck the entire housing market is a Trainwreck and no-one in power wants to stop the incoming disaster.
Yes, i'm very sorry for you. It's much, much worse in the UK. But if you ask me, Germany is on track for a similar disaster if things don't change. Denmark is a much better example for renting done right.
How is not owning property equal to 'having it the worst'? Its also not financially viable to own property, renting is actually the smart choice.
Even though i'm not particularly proud of that comment in general (as stated below), how in the world is it a good thing to not own property?
Where i live real estate is still a great investment but i'm genuinely interested why you think renting is a better option?!
I wouldn't say it's a good thing to not own property but it isn't inherently worse. I personally have 0 want to own the place i live in since I doubt I will ever feel like settling down forever, and there's some additional management overhead that as a renter I don't have to deal with (of course I end up paying for it).
I actually find this idea that "being unable to buy your own place to live = really bad" like that is everyones normal life goal to be a bit weird, though I do agree it's rather indicative of a general problem of inflated prices for living space (and I also think it should be an option bc there are some advantages to owning your own place that you would not be able to have with alternative systems that I'd personally be perfectly happy with such as 100% government owned housing).
Respect that preference but I didn't say "really bad", I said worst (in comparison to other countries).
I don't think you would decline if someone gave you a house. You can always rent it out, hire someone to manage it and probably still have some cash left over.
If there weren't greedy, demented landlords all over the place (I got really fucked in that regard multiple times) and tenants were properly protected against insane price hikes, there's absolutely nothing wrong with renting. Glad it worked out for you so far but that's not the reality I live in.