The German renting market is really interesting. Some reasons contributing to such a low owner rate include, 1: favorable laws in rent control - preventing more

The German renting market is really interesting. Some reasons contributing to such a low owner rate include, 1: favorable laws in rent control - preventing more than 15% over 3 years (~4% per annum), negating the need to buy to hedge against the risk of huge rent increases[1], 2: the tax policy is structured such that home-owners do not get to deduct things like mortgage interest payments, unlike in the US and Spain, 3: the German banks are inherently risk-adverse and as such have historically been pretty stringent when it comes to lending, 4: in tandem with (3) , there are no government subsidies or programs like the FHA which offers banks the ability to offer mortgages to people with only 3% down. [1] http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/03/0301.pdf http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/03/0301.pdf, Banks' Advantage in Hedging Liquidity Risk: Theory and Evidence from the Commercial Paper Market