3 ms·

Hm, is it normal in Berlin to live at some place for many years and still renting the apartment? Instead of buying/owning it...

• ido 12y ago
  Yes, iirc 90% of people rent here.
• zurn 12y ago
  Yes, it's one of the places that legislates favourable rules toward the lodger (stringent conditions on rent increases or lease terminations etc). Lots of people even sublet their favourably gotten rental flats onward for more money. Although if people owned the flats, the lower income senior citizens would still move: they would find it expedient to sell their now-expensive flats and put the money to living expenses (or grandchildren or travel or assisted living etc). This is happening in other growing cities around the world. edit: It seems to me renting (or some other form of "right-of-occupancy" arrangement) is actually the desireable choice for most situations. Investing hundreds of thousands in a single unit of housing is not a good fit for most people's savings/investment plan - you'd want to diversify, and possibly hedge against things going downhill in your neighbourhood. If rent market works well, and taxation and rental terms work out, it's better for everybody to just pay for the apartment's financing and maintenance plus a small profit margin in the form of rent.
• vog 12y ago
  Sure, it is. People often move every 3-15 years, while staying in the same city (or sometime leaving for another city). This is much easier with renting where you just have to take care of finding the new flat, rather than also selling your old flat. People usually buy a house or flat only when they are very good situated and are founding a family. And even then most prefer renting simply because you have to take care of less things (owning a house can be quite time consuming).