Who owns most of the homes then ? Institutional investors ?
Insurances, pension funds, and coops, all of whom want a long-term profit and are willing to invest in the buildings to allow for that to happen.
Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
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Re: Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
#52I am a German CS-Student and currently renting in a shared flat with 4 other students. We call it WG (living-community) and its really popular not only with students, but i know a lot of young professionals and even middle aged ones that share an apartment (it gained popularity in the 60s, so i think its more of an culture thing that older do not share a flat). If you are in a partnership, you can move out and share…
That's all well and good as long as you're a student, or partying your twenties away and as long as everybody in the house gets on .... I've done this, and while it is good fun in parts the downsides become downright tiring.
Re: Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
#53> more than 93% of German respondents tell pollsters they’re satisfied
You only trust the statistic you created yourself. That is not a true statement.
Re: Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
#54I am a German CS-Student and currently renting in a shared flat with 4 other students. We call it WG (living-community) and its really popular not only with students, but i know a lot of young professionals and even middle aged ones that share an apartment (it gained popularity in the 60s, so i think its more of an culture thing that older do not share a flat). If you are in a partnership, you can move out and share…
This is pretty popular in the US. Most recent college graduates I know live in a shared house or apartment.
Popular by choice or financial necessity?
Re: Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
#55I am a German CS-Student and currently renting in a shared flat with 4 other students. We call it WG (living-community) and its really popular not only with students, but i know a lot of young professionals and even middle aged ones that share an apartment (it gained popularity in the 60s, so i think its more of an culture thing that older do not share a flat). If you are in a partnership, you can move out and share…
To each their own. After graduating from school, the last thing I had any interest in was a shared living arrangement.
I live with a friend for about 8 years now and it's okay, but I wouldn't do it again when we finally part ways some day in the future.
Re: Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
#56Germany is a two-class society divided into landlords and renters. A landlord will usually not own only one but ~3-20 houses that total to ~15-100 flats. The landlords often are renters themselves.
When compared with big housing companies, private landlords require bigger profit margins, leading to low quality maintenance of existing houses and ex-orbital rents. Especially in crowded cities, rent regulation is non existent and its a sellers market, inflated by wealthy students that rent expensive micro-flats during university.
You or your parents don’t own houses, and are self sufficient on a regular job? Well, you are shit out of luck then. As much as 70% of your income will go towards your rent, effectively financing the better-off and the further expansion of their inefficient renting businesses.
Re: Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
#57Being German I want to pPoint out that the article leaves out one cruicial detail: Building your own home puts you into debt for quite literally the rest of your life. We do not like debt.
I know some incredibly debt-averse Americans, and they all consider mortgage debt to be "good" debt. They still try to minimize it, and pay it off as quick as they can, but they all would recommend reasonable mortgages.
Part of that might be tax incentives for mortgages, which another commenter claims Germany doesn't have
Re: Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
#58It's an interesting article. I'm from Belgium, one of the highest house owners countries. Even though it's true it's a life-long debt and it might be risky (in case of crisis), housing is still considered as a Long Term Investment so that you can pass that investment to your children (after heavy tax deduction :)). I find interesting the article does not mention who actually owns all these houses and who benefits in…
>After all, renting has a guaranteed zero ROI.
A guaranteed zero ROI is better than a negative ROI which you can get with buying a house (e.g. the house you can resell it drops due to the market and you can't afford the mortgage for some reason...)
Re: Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
>such as the humble credit card out of nearly all Western nations Of course using your overdraft is totally fine, but using the evil credit cards even when paying in full is just like declaring bankruptcy. Doesn't help payment services in Germany that Visa/MasterCard is always considered an evil credit card and debit brands aren't too common.
From the PoV of someone who once co-owned a small business in Germany that accepted card payments: The reason they are "evil" is that they charge the dealer the by far largest fees. Cache: no fee. EC card: small fee. Credit card: large fee. And of course I can't ask the customer to pay for it, I must have one price for all. It was something like 1% vs. 3% (approximately(!), just to give an idea of magnitude). It's no…
That's quite interesting.
I rent cars quite frequently with the boring free VISA debit card from my normal checking account. I never knew that there are restrictions on which cards can be used for renting.
Re: Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent
#60I am a German CS-Student and currently renting in a shared flat with 4 other students. We call it WG (living-community) and its really popular not only with students, but i know a lot of young professionals and even middle aged ones that share an apartment (it gained popularity in the 60s, so i think its more of an culture thing that older do not share a flat). If you are in a partnership, you can move out and share…
I've always been the opposite. I can't stand coming home to an apartment filled with people. After dealing with chaos all day, I want to know there's a quiet, tidy place where I can relax. I dislike coming back and having to interact with people.
your not forced to share your apartment, but every constellation have their own vibe. Some are quiet and mature (and most of them are not filled with students, i think thats an age thing)