The situation in the UK is different than Germany - there are a lot less tenants protections & a lot less rent control (almost every renter in Germany is enjoyi

The situation in the UK is different than Germany - there are a lot less tenants protections & a lot less rent control (almost every renter in Germany is enjoying some sort of rent control - at the very least the landlords can't easily raise rent on an existing tenant and can't easily end the contract - which is by default unlimited in duration). Rent is kept artificially low & safe in Germany via legislation, where as purchasing happens on the free market. Also culturally Germans are very fiscally conservative and risk averse, it is not as common to take up debt (=mortgage) as in the UK or the US.