There's also the high transaction cost. https://www.iwkoeln.de/fileadmin/publikationen/2016/310521/IW-Kurzbericht_72_2016_Transaction_Costs.pdf https://www.iwk

There's also the high transaction cost. https://www.iwkoeln.de/fileadmin/publikationen/2016/310521/IW-Kurzbericht_72_2016_Transaction_Costs.pdf https://www.iwkoeln.de/fileadmin/publikationen/2016/310521/I... > The cost of a real estate agent would increase the transaction costs considerably; but since the use of housing brokers is not mandatory, they are left out of the calculation. Could somebody with more insight than me comment on the total transaction costs? To me it seems like this is one of the main reasons for people to refrain from buying, because it locks them in. Also, in Berlin at least, prices for buying are skyrocketing. Rents are increasing as well, but probably can't increase as much because of protections.