So How Is It That The Rent In Berlin Is Tiny Compared To London?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34066100
The Germans are capping it but really it's seems very cheap compared to London.

[237SJ]

Maybe because there is more rental stock in Germany. My cousin lives in Hamburg and everyone rents there. There are plenty of long term rents available as well. An Englishman`s home is his castle so there is less rental stock here - more people own their homes. Rental properties are at a premium.

[ToraToraTora]

so who are they renting from? someone owns the property. I would have thought that Germans would generally be home owners. Is property very expensive?

[237SJ]

I don`t know about prices nowadays. Years ago I had a friend who had lived in Germany with her RAF husband and she said that property was really expensive there. This was in the 1980s and a modest property cost on average £250.000. She said that properties were passed down through families because that was the only way for people to get on the property ladder.

[ToraToraTora]

so how can rents be so cheap, seems odd to me.

[237SJ]

I don`t know. The last time I stayed with my cousin must have been about 15 years ago. I think he paid about £350 per month for his two bedroom apartment in Harburg. You couldn`t even get a room in someone`s house for that in London.

[Mamyalynne]

When my Daughter and her Husband lived and worked in both Prague and Hamburg they could easily afford to rent - the same was not true when they were in a similar position on similar salaries in London.

They had to live well outside and commute.

[shaneystar2]

My Mum in Law was paying 550 Euros a month rent when she died nearly six years ago and she lived in a smalll town near Düsseldorf.This included heating and maintenance for a two bed apartment with lounge ,kitchen ,dining room ,bathroom and balcony .She lived there for forty five years .
This is why the Germans rent .
http://qz.com/167887/germany-has-one-of-the-worlds-lowest-homeownership-rates/

[douglas9401]

Hmmm, I wonder if Germany perpetuates the myth of property ownership bringing happiness, allows spiv estate agents to make stuff more important than it is and have the equivalent of he said she said talent vacuums like Phil and Kirstie talking pish about nothing with pling plong garbage music playing behind their utter dross.

[Mosaic]

On continental Europe as a whole there's a much more established tradition of renting than owning property. It's considered normal to rent. When you travel through places like France and Germany, you may see what look like large detached houses in suburbs or the countryside- these are generally spilt into at least two occupancies. At the same time, Germnay especially has a long tradition of housing co-operatives and trusts making affordable rents possible - the rental market isn't dominated by individual private landlords or companies. Kind of like the 1950s council house pictire in the country, but not necessarily with councils in control.

[ToraToraTora]

yes but what confuses me is that property prices are high, I mean surely that is a function of what you can get in rent and that is tiny. So what I'm saying is that owning property is not a good investment so property prices should be dirt cheap. It is no surprise that low rental property in Britain is also dirt cheap to buy. There must be another factor that makes this dichotomy sustainable.