I've been in Berlin for 17 years, and in my early days in Berlin, a room in a shared apartment could be found for as little as €75/month (e.g. 6 bedroom apartme

I've been in Berlin for 17 years, and in my early days in Berlin, a room in a shared apartment could be found for as little as €75/month (e.g. 6 bedroom apartment), and studio apartments could be found for €250/month. Hell, I paid €450/month for my 2 bedroom (3. Zimmer in German parlance) in Alt-Treptow (800 meters from Schlesicher Str., where I worked). That opened up a lot of quirky social possibilities because the floor for survival was so low in Berlin. If an artist could throw together €400/month, they could survive on that. Now that's what a room in a shared apartment costs. Even when I started a tech company, I got my cost of living down to €800/month, in the above apartment, which I shared with my co-founder.