3 ms·

Will that be the reason why Germany has one of the lowest home ownership rates?

• dogma1138 10y ago
  Not the only reason, and most likely not the primary one. When adjusted for age Germany has a pretty solid house ownership rate. Germany is big and has a pretty mobile workforce, in many other countries you are considerably less likely to be moving every 2-5 years across large distances like you are in Germany. Overall the affordability of housing even when accounting for mortgages and required seed money is considerably better in Germany than in Norway, Sweden or Denmark, and while Germany does have about half the house ownership rate on paper it is also because rent is both available and affordable and is favored by the younger workforce. One can argue about what is better having to rent until you settle down at the age of 30-35, or buying a house at the age of 19 with decades of mortgage and only having to sell it to move into your parent's house which is still under mortgage. The house pricing in Oslo rivals NYC these days. Also while Germany does have a considerable below average age for the EU28, the highest / above average EU28 countries are not those which you would expect, those are the Eastern European countries like Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia etc. countries which were in the USSR/Warsaw Pact or were under socialism at one point or another. When you give everyone in the country a home at some point in time you'll end up having very high homeownership rates even 50 years later.
  • ricardonunez 10y ago
    Thank you for explaining in detail. It's very interesting.