3 ms·

The article lays out that Germany - a market where property isn't speculated on - has stable houseprices. This is in contrast to English-speaking countries wher

The article lays out that Germany - a market where property isn't speculated on - has stable houseprices. This is in contrast to English-speaking countries where speculation has caused houseprices to grow beyond the reach of most millenials. It doesn't strike me that speculation has led to stable prices here.

WalterBright 5y ago
What the article says about Germany: "Most important, in a few places the rate of home ownership is low and no one bats an eyelid. It is just 50% in Germany, which has a rental sector that encourages long-term tenancies and provides clear and enforceable rights for renters. With ample supply and few tax breaks or subsidies for owner-occupiers, home ownership is far less alluring and the political clout of nimbys is muted. Despite strong recent growth in some cities, Germany’s real house prices are, on average, no higher than they were in 1980." Nowhere does the article say that speculators are the cause of high prices. Speculators are the result of a rapidly changing market, not the cause.
ChuckNorris89 5y ago
>The article lays out that Germany - a market where property isn't speculated on Excuse me?! Has the author actually done any research into the real estate markets of the big German cities or is he just making this stuff up? Germany is not safe from real-estate speculation, I can guarantee you that, otherwise 80sqm flats in Munich wouldn't have reached 1.1 Million Euros[1]. [1]https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/immobilien-wohnen/immobilienmarkt/id_89808690/drei-zimmer-fuer-eine-million-euro-ist-das-noch-gerechtfertigt-.html https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/immobilien-wohnen/immobilie...
MandieD 5y ago
Laughs in Franconian dialect We started thinking about buying when we moved to the Nuremberg area in 2012, and started our serious house hunt in 2014. It took a full year before we managed to get an offer accepted, and we were offering full asking price, because we had to wait a few days to get mortgage approvals instead of having 300k-500k EUR in cash. We ended up with a mid-50s row house that could use new bathrooms and windows in Nuremberg's largest neighboring city/suburb, only because the seller wanted a buyer who she thought would actually live in it themselves... and are keenly aware of our good fortune. We would have to pay about 60-70% more than we did just 5 years ago to get the same thing in livable condition in this location now.

WalterBright 5y ago

What the article says about Germany: "Most important, in a few places the rate of home ownership is low and no one bats an eyelid. It is just 50% in Germany, which has a rental sector that encourages long-term tenancies and provides clear and enforceable rights for renters. With ample supply and few tax breaks or subsidies for owner-occupiers, home ownership is far less alluring and the political clout of nimbys is muted. Despite strong recent growth in some cities, Germany’s real house prices are, on average, no higher than they were in 1980." Nowhere does the article say that speculators are the cause of high prices. Speculators are the result of a rapidly changing market, not the cause.

ChuckNorris89 5y ago

>The article lays out that Germany - a market where property isn't speculated on Excuse me?! Has the author actually done any research into the real estate markets of the big German cities or is he just making this stuff up? Germany is not safe from real-estate speculation, I can guarantee you that, otherwise 80sqm flats in Munich wouldn't have reached 1.1 Million Euros[1]. [1]https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/immobilien-wohnen/immobilienmarkt/id_89808690/drei-zimmer-fuer-eine-million-euro-ist-das-noch-gerechtfertigt-.html https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/immobilien-wohnen/immobilie...

MandieD 5y ago

Laughs in Franconian dialect We started thinking about buying when we moved to the Nuremberg area in 2012, and started our serious house hunt in 2014. It took a full year before we managed to get an offer accepted, and we were offering full asking price, because we had to wait a few days to get mortgage approvals instead of having 300k-500k EUR in cash. We ended up with a mid-50s row house that could use new bathrooms and windows in Nuremberg's largest neighboring city/suburb, only because the seller wanted a buyer who she thought would actually live in it themselves... and are keenly aware of our good fortune. We would have to pay about 60-70% more than we did just 5 years ago to get the same thing in livable condition in this location now.