That's quite insulting. The trend for Germans to rent and not buy is a choice, not due to being too poor to afford a house. They don't share the homeownership

That's quite insulting. The trend for Germans to rent and not buy is a choice, not due to being too poor to afford a house. They don't share the homeownership fever prevalent in the UK and USA. Germans (and the French) rent due to cultural reasons, it's not looked down upon at all, it's a pragmatic alternative and puts the renter on a much more equal footing with the landlord than in other countries (like the UK). Of course this is all quite obvious by glancing at the rental prices in nice neighbourhoods in Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Paris...