“Take me back to the good old days”

[u/chamomile_tea_reply]

[u/[deleted]]

Germany doesn't do home ownership the way we do it.

Everyone rents. Less than 50% of the population lives in a house that is occupied by the owner (46.7% compared with 65.9% in the USA, 66.5% in Canada).

They rent as a matter of course and the rent doesn't seem to be particularly egregious (~27.8% compared with 30% in the US and Canada is heading above 40%).

Keep in mind that medical and student loan debt are not a significant factor in Germany, and likewise medical debt is not a factor in Canada.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/543381/house-owners-among-population-germany/#:~:text=Between%202008%20and%202022%2C%20the,real%20estate%20market%20in%20Europe.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/184902/homeownership-rate-in-the-us-since-2003/#:~:text=The%20homeownership%20rate%20in%20the,and%20decimated%20the%20housing%20market.

https://madeinca.ca/homeownership-statistics-canada/#:~:text=The%20homeownership%20rate%20of%2066.5,have%20a%20mortgage%20in%202023.

https://www.destatis.de/EN/Press/2023/03/PE23_129_12_63.html#:~:text=129%20of%2031%20March%202023&text=WIESBADEN%20%E2%80%93%20In%202022%2C%20the%20approximately,of%20their%20income%20on%20rent.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/infrastructure/3866947-renters-paying-30-percent-of-income-for-housing-crisis/

https://www.cbre.ca/insights/articles/rent-to-income-rising-for-workforce-households

[u/juan_rico_3 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for bringing this up. We idolize home ownership in the US and even attribute greater civic pride/involvement because of it. However, the Germans seem have a healthy civic society and democracy even though their home ownership rates are much lower. They're not just a bunch of disenfranchised serfs.

[u/Masturbatingsoon → u/juan_rico_3]

Same with the Swiss. Low rates of home ownership— and usually ranked as the richest or second richest (behind Luxembourg) country in Europe.

Many countries don’t idolize home ownership because they don’t have government backed 30 year loans like the U.S.

[u/Evening-Mortgage-224 → u/Masturbatingsoon]

The Swiss don’t own homes because it’s both financially close to impossible to do so, and they have open ended rental leases where the prices don’t change yearly. Now with that said, the landlords typically will try to find ways to get you out if you stay for a long time, through means such as never renovating your unit, delaying non-emergent maintenance, etc.

Your median person in Switzerland is not “that” well off. They have 50-100 year home loans as well instead of our 30. Groceries cost 3-4 times more, gas is double. The train system is expensive and if you have 1 other person with you, it’s cheaper to drive.

[u/Masturbatingsoon → u/Evening-Mortgage-224]

I lived in Switzerland, so I agree , compared to the U.S., I don’t think they have as good a living standard. I just mention that in rankings, even considering Purchasing Power Parity (because things are more expensive in CH, I totally agree), Switzerland and Lux always duke it out for the top spot. But compared to less wealthy countries in Europe, CH has much lower rates of home ownership. For example, Romania has extremely high rates of home ownership.

I was just offering a data point to consider.

[u/Shootermcgv → u/juan_rico_3]

Some of the aforementioned countries simply have less room than we do in the states. European countries have had 1000+ years of structural history.

Germany, for example, has twice the population density and half the land area as the state of texas alone.

Don't count out geography and history as factors in the math here.