Germans Don't Buy Houses??! - American Reacts

[@m.h.6470]

There is also one big thing, that wasn't mentioned in the video: Rentable flats are available directly in the city. If you try to buy something - especially a house - it is normally either on the outskirts of a city or in a rural area. There simply isn't space inside the cities - or it is way to expensive for "normal" people. So if you buy, you very likely need a car and you have a lot of side costs, all of which you don't have, if you rent. That isn't to say, that renting is always preferable, but it tends to be.

[@Cepterman]

Rentable flats may be available, but that does not mean, that they are actually affordable

[@m.h.6470]

@@Cepterman still cheaper than buying and paying the mortgage or credit interests... (in the city of course)

[@denzzlinga]

@@m.h.6470 don´t think so, not in the long term. mortgages end at some point, when the home is payed for it´s yours and you live there "for free", rents on the other hand never end until you die. If you become 100 years old, you pay rent for two homes in your lifetime, and still have nothing at the end, you just made the landlord richer.

[@m.h.6470]

@@denzzlinga on the long run, sure. Buying is cheaper, I agree (I bought my flat/apartment). But "short term" (like 5-10 years) you are usually much better of with rent. Specifically for city flats/apartments, I mean - not outside of cities. Also, even if you bought it, you don't live "for free". You have maintenance and repairs to pay, as well as more work with gas or oil companies and so on.

[@1BioMarco]

Sure, at a certain point in time, the house is yours. But the older the house gets, the more repairs are incurred and must be paid for. The costs of keeping a house in good shape, modernizing it or, in particular, making it age-appropriate later on are often overlooked when comparing renting and buying at first glance.

[@berlindude75]

Germany these days is roughly the size of the state of Montana but has 84 million people living in it. Imagine that many people living in Montana, and how many would own their own property there if that were case. There simply isn't enough physical space next to natural features such as rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges, as well as infrastructure and industry.

[@GrouchyBear411]

She is pretty spot on about the reasons, however she did not mention/is perhaps unaware of Government Incentives such as Money provided per child when you build a new House in Germany. Also, the American Way of sprawling suburbs with tons of space for houses with gardens... just does not fly in Germany, as it would destroy the countryside and there is simply less space. Germany is pretty densely populated, but the Nature in between Cities and Towns got preserved.

[@haraldobermaier5965]

Top video! 👍👍👍 In Austria I think it's similar: 1. not so much space and nowadays rules against too much spreading houses over the country (Zersiedelung, Naturschutz). 2. Good laws to protect people living in hired appartements 3. Special Nonprofit-societies are building and running more-family-houses to affordable costs (soziale Wohnbaugenossenschaften) 4. History for instance in cities like Vienna, where 150 years ago a lot of more-family-houses were built 5. And at last but not at least: the income: 1/3 of the people is threatened to be poor and doesn't earn enough for bying or building a house

[@martinhuhn7813]

One big difference is, that the vast majority of rental homes are rented out completely empty (except for a toilet and a sink in the bathroom). That means, that you typically entirely equip your flat with your personal stuff. Therefore rental apartments are far more personal spaces. It largely feels and functions as a place of your own. My last flat was not entirely typical in that regard, the landlord provided some furniture in the kitchen and in the bathroom, so there was an oven, a kitchen sink and even a fridge there, but no shower curtain, no toilet seat, no lamp in the main room an no bed, dustbin or general other furniture.

[@jenswurm]

Not only does that make them more personal, it also becomes a much bigger deal if one has to move to a different apartment. A lot more bulky furniture to be moved.

[@nemhad61]

A quick note on the high home ownership rate in Saarland: You don't buy a house, you build it yourself!

[@tammy9900]

She mainly talked about flats in the city. On the landside there are more houseowners and there are as big as in the US with a front and back yard.

[@bluebear6570]

There is not a single reason why home ownership is quite low in Germany when compared to other countrie. The key reason is ceretainly the cost of property. I a country as densely populated as Germany, real estate prices are sky high. Another reason is the enormous amount of wealth destructed during WW II, leaving the middle class impoverished at the end of the war. It took three generations to build up some kind of wealth, a necessary foundation for buying a house, as mortgages are not as easily granted to potential buyers. You need to have at least 20% of the total cost, which is a sizable amount. And you need agood net income.

[@Andreas_NordNordwest]

and... in Germany: A tenant doesn't have to worry about the broken heater, a tenant doesn't have to worry about the broken windows. The landlord has to fix that, otherwise there are statutory rent deductions. And a tenant can move at any time if he no longer likes a place. The rents are relatively cheap (depending on the residential area) there is nothing wrong with being a tenant ;)

[@Leuchtigel]

Translated with Google translator: If I had the money, I would definitely have a house by now. But it's just too expensive, you can't get loans without collateral and owning a house doesn't mean that it only costs the mortgage, you also need reserves in case something goes wrong, or for the ongoing utilities, which adds up to the total costs can be higher than the rent. :)

[@dirkspatz3692]

German here: In my childhood (father was in the Airforce) we moved a few times (Ramstein, Ankara, Bad Ems and finally Bonn when I was 4 Years old) when I was 9 my parents build a house (Country-side near Bonn) and we moved again. I stayed there until I went to the University and moved (first time by myself) into a tiny (private owned)Appartment in Bonn (1Room, 200ft² / 19m² ) here I live until Graduation and stayed there the first years in my Job to save money. Next (my first real moving) was 2006 when I saved enough money to buy an appartment in a small village 20km (12mls) from Bonn (a very rural area so close to the city). Debt where low because with help of my parents (interest free "credit") and a small credit from the bank I could pay a 62m²/ 667ft² two room (1 Bedroom+one Living room - We count rooms different in Germany) appartment I still own. With low credit but high back-payment I managed to be dept-free in 8 Years. From this moment the montly payment (Garbage, Tax, Water, ...) was really affordable. Later when my parents passed away My brother and inherited the house where we grow up and rent it. After 4 Years the family that lifed in the house terminated the contract (yes 3 Months in advance) and my Brother and I decided that we both move back (my second moving) to the house we grown up and share the house. I rent my Appartment to a young Family (even if the appartment is in a small town near Bonn, with an medival church and view from the Balcony to a Castle and a Castle ruin - Infrastructure for the kid, Kindergarten, Schools up to High-School is in Walking, Biking Distance) and they life there since 8 Years. Now my working Office is in Cologne but we have 4 Days "Home-Office" per weak. Even if the Company decides that I have to work in the headquarter (Düsseldorf) this is something I can do from my current home for the left years until retirement. And after my retired I will maybe move a last time - into a nursing home (when I get so old that I need nursing).

[@phoenix72999]

Interesting. I personally grew up in a low-income area with an unemployed single mother with physical and mental health issues, both of which I also got passed down from her. And to me I see owning any property as something impossible. I am attending university now, but even so, it doesn't sound realistic. Maybe, if I want that lifestyle, I could find something in the countryside somewhere when I am 40-50 years old. But due to my disability I can't even get a driver's license, so that is not an option. Or maybe some small flat in a city I want to live in, at about the same age range (if I don't find a wealthier partner or something). I will see. But it is fine. I don't feel excluded from society and I don't really care about housing. It just feels like there is a bit of a divide between people who can afford such things at a young age and people who can't.

[@kleinshui9082]

I'm in my late 20s, living in a big city in western Germany. It's my first own flat, rented of course, in a cozy stand-alone 2 store house. The other house members all bought their flats from the house owner and are of much older age. For my 75 m2 flat I pay roughly 780€/mnt. plus electricity/internet etc. I work a really good paying full time job in a near smaller city. Still I feel to young to settle for my own appartment. I did not grew up in a house and feel like single party houses are a huge waste of space and other resources. I'd rather stick to appartements with a balcony/garden.

[@jenswurm]

I bought my house (duplex half) when i was 39, but in hindsight i feel i should have done it earlier. Mortgages used to be the same or even cheaper than renting the same place, at least until the interest rates increased. One big benefit of a mortgage is that unlike rent it won't increase every few years. On the downside, one is responsible for all the maintenane and repairs though, but still i find it a very good deal to own/finance rather than to rent. Overall i don't see a mortgage as settling for a certain place - one can still sell it. It just takes a bit more paperwork to do so, as opposed to canceling a lease.

[@MsSpike2005]

When you rent an apartment or a house, it is much easier to change. If you want to move to another area, cancel the lease and you're done. You're not so tied to that place. You don't have to find a buyer and worry about anything else. Besides, as the owner you are always responsible for repairs and if the money is missing, the drama starts.

[@JohnHazelwood58]

My wife and me are living in a german house for rent ... It's quite a huge house (3 floors, 3 bathrooms, nice kitchen included, etc.), an epic view into the landscape and large garden area, two car ports ... quite new building with a floor heating system and so on! With rent, internet, power, insurrance and so on it's less than 1000 bucks a month to pay! So really, really cheap! The living area is about 160m² for two people. Enough for us! :)

[@Alsterwave]

Wow that‘s really cheap! May I ask in which area you live? I live in Hamburg (second biggest city in Germany) and pay 1.300€ for my 67 square meters apartment :( at least I have a garden too :D

[@JohnHazelwood58]

@@Alsterwave South of Germany, ... I can see Austria from my balcony and windows! :)

[@Alsterwave]

@@JohnHazelwood58 Cool! I love the southern part of Germany as well :)

[@dirkspatz3692]

As Always it depends. Where I live in Germany (Cologne area) - Cologne City center unpayable. at the outer districts of a Cologne expensive (except in some "Bronx of Cologne" - hamlets). Same but overall a little bit cheaper - Bonn, Brühl, Wesseling. Then the towns around the City - rent goes down "the rural the cheaper" - And then we have the tiny villages in the middle of nowhere (approx 25mls /38km distance to Cologne - Bergisches Land around the Villages of Much and Overath) where you pay close to nothing to rent a house - or buy it (but these are 10 house Villages, only accessable by one small county road and the next shop, School, Gas-Station or Whatever is at least 40 driving minutes on small and tiny roads away).

[@JohnHazelwood58]

@@dirkspatz3692 True! I confirm! When I was living in a known, german city I payed more rent for my 45m² flat that I do now for my 160m² house on the country side!

[@Attirbful]

you also have to keep in mind that we have about a fourth of the American population living in a space a space the size of Texas… It makes a lot of sense, in densely populated cities, to build up rather than sprawl. Single family homes in large cities, are essentially very frivolous. In addition, we have excellent transportation, especially in cities, not so much in the country…. So, city populations have fewer cars because often they do not need one, whereas, if you own a house and hence live on the outskirts or in the country, you will have to expect to have to own a car and commute, which comes, again, with high gas prices and limited or costly city parking, or having a car to go to the next public transportation and having to invest into public transport into the city. So, for many, it does not make sense to own a home if they work in a city.

[@Legilimentable]

It's not that I don't WANT to buy a house. The mandatory building standards are so high in Germany that I can't afford a house.

[@sylviarohge4204]

I've always rented. In the part of Germany where I live, rents are quite cheap. For example, I pay €369.50 rent per month for a 47m³ apartment (living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, hallway, basement). Buying a house is also an extremely large financial risk.

[@sylviarohge4204]

@@Michael_from_EU_Germany Warmmiete, Gas und Strom kommen noch dazu da ich eine Heiztherme habe. Zumindest kann ich immer die Heizung aufdrehen wenn ich lust dazu habe ^^ .

[@petertrabaris1629]

It sounds like our German friends are much more realistic about property and potentially purchasing that we are in the U.S. If I had realized this when I were young, I would have relocated to Germany. It is a wonderful place to be. I thought about moving to Germany after spending a month there when I was seventeen, but obviously never did. I wish that the U.S. had this approach. Housing would be much better quality it sounds like, and homelessness would be less, or perhaps nonexistent? I actually hate how we deal with housing, personally. Peace (Yes, I have owned a house. I loved it. And, it was the worst financial decision of my life.) I am a happy renter now.

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

There are some homeless people, especially in big cities with relatively rapidly rising rents like Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Berlin, but far less than in other countries I know. Most social housing programs where taken down during the 1980s and 1990s while at the same time living space per capita (as well as the size of new apartments thought for 1-2 adults and maybe one child) grew rapidly. And since the population is now on the rise again (a low of 80 mio. in 2011, since then about 0.2 mio plus per year in average, now 83.2 mio.), the demand for housing is much higher than supply.

[@nntflow7058]

Also, buying apartments in Germany is easier and cheaper compared to the typical house.

[@overlordnews4075]

Lived with some German Nationals in the German part of Switzerland. They both worked for BMW in Lichtenstien but it was cheaper for them to rent in Swiss. They were very rich, three kids, a nanny (me) and they had NO intention on purchasing property.

[@sc4952]

In Switzerland, buying is normally cheaper than renting..BC you normally only pay interest..which is quite Low in Switzerland..and do Not pay Back the loan..yeah, Just 1% repayment per year...so..1 Mio loan..means..2% payments per year. 20.000/12= 1.650,- per month. You cannot Rent for that in Switzerland. And in top of that, you can deduct at least a Part of the interests in your tax declaration. Thats why IT should BE Higher in Switzerland...and should make Sense to buy.

[@SilkyH]

costs is also a Factor.You can not compare how a German house is build, quality , modern and luxury compared to American houses

[@blondkatze3547]

When my children were younger, we also moved from the city in northern Germany to the country. We first lived there in our own house with garden for rent. After two years we bought this house, because we got good terms from our bank. We have never regretted having bought this house , because the children could play here in the garden and on the side street with the neighboring children. The advantage in our village was that there many different playground and a Kindergarten and a preschool with a primaryschool which was close to us. We have now been living in this village for twenty-six years and have a nice neighbors with whom we get along well. Meanwhile , how ever many new building areas have emerged here in the country and there are many families who had built their own house.☺🌹

[@jenswurm]

18:50 I think that reading the entire contract to you at the notary session does make a lot of sense.A good notary will point out particular details in the contract that may be out of the ordinary.

[@wolsch3435]

Buying a house or building it yourself is something you probably only do once in a lifetime in Germany. This is mostly done by young families who are confident that their jobs and thus their income will be secure in the coming decades and that they can therefore repay the loans they have taken out. Individuals or couples buy condominiums, especially in the cities, which come in different sizes. The prices for houses and condominiums have risen significantly in recent years in large cities and metropolitan areas where there are good-paying jobs. Therefore, you have to think very carefully about whether you can manage the financial burden over many years. On the other hand, rents for apartments have also risen exorbitantly. Deciding which is better, owning or renting, is really not easy in Germany.

[@derin111]

There’s another cultural aspect linked to this. I’m a dual national (British and German) and spend about half of my time between the two countries but Britain is really my ‘home’ and where I own my house. My partner lives in a city (Hannover) in a rented apartment. I am trying to move to Germany now but want to buy a house because ‘culturally, I with my British thinking-cap on feel that renting is a waste of money. My girlfriend on the other hand is not only very resistant to this idea but she also sees her apartment as a long-term commitment. Whereas here in the UK people who rent will move much more easily….she was in her last rental apartment for 25 years! 😮

[@juyjuka]

Hello MoreJps, your reactions and additions in this video are very good this time. A real reaction and comments from an american point of view are realy adding to that video of Feli from Germany. Congratulations. (I like your other videos too, this one was just even better.) Greetings Juy Juka

[@karlsiebert7888]

It's the same in Austria as in Germany and we even have lower rental costs and a lot of financial support by the state in case we get in financial troubles, like losing our job or things like that

[@BenjaminMcCluskey]

I live in Münster NRW. moved in in march 2008, inner city, 56 square meters. When i moved in i was paying 340 Euro a month, flat rent, no heat electric.. i now pay 416 euro a month.. In 16 years, my flat rent has gone up 76 euro.. surrounding apartments are more than double that.. this is why renters dont move.

[@Kari_B61ex]

I've bought and sold a property and now I rent from a housing association over here in the UK - I'm much happier and far less stressed renting. The apartment I live in is well maintained, is surrounded by beautiful gardens, which are also maintained by the landlords for a very low service charge of £39 a month - if anything breaks or goes wrong, they send someone out to fix it... even a dripping tap!

[@tsimeone]

I don't get the fascination with owning property, I'm happy renting.. I'm based in the UK. But so many people are obsessed with buying.

[@stunts1337]

you'll be paying rent for the rest of your life. If you buy a house you'll eventually pay it off. I struggle to understand why you would rather pay for someone elses mortgage when you could be paying off your own.

[@tsimeone]

@@stunts1337 I honestly don't get it, it just seems quite materialistic. I totally get what you're saying and brilliant if you can do it. But Not everyone can afford to buy and I don't think it should be drummed into people they have to own.

[@W0rdsandMus1c]

I agree with you, I was born in the 50s and growing up nobody bought their own house (except for the wealthy professionals of the day) there was very little private rented it was all Council estates, loved the one I grew up on, then Maggie Thatcher came a long and made everyone believe they could buy and they did, by massive discounts on their council homes, end result lack of social housing and private buy to rent making money out of their slum properties, I have Rented council, bought private, rented private and now rent from a housing association (over 55s) I love where I am now, yes it takes the majority of my pension, but apart from council tax and broadband it covers everything, it is clean with large gardens and maintenance team do all the work, how many times do we see private housing falling into disrepair because the owners are to old or can't afford the up keep? sorry that was a bit of an essay 🤣

[@Lilygirl283]

Try paying rent on a meagre pension when you get older, at least if your home is paid off you don't have to worry about rent...

[@W0rdsandMus1c]

@@Lilygirl283 If you was on a meagre pension (no such thing) you would be on pension credits and get your rent/council tax paid for you, I am a pensioner and have to pay my rent, because financially I can, but plenty in my building don't pay and that's fine if they can't afford it.

[@trueamnisias]

I would say it's a combination of ecconomics (it's cheap) and convinience (somebody else is responsible for repairs and upkeep). As Feli said, renter protection is very robust and many people stay in the same rented property for 10 or 20 years. Also, home ownership is not something Germans aspire to unless they are 'settling down' somewhere for the rest of their lifes and they can realisticallly afford. And houses in Germany are built much more robustley than US or even UK houses, which makes them more expensive. When I was little my parents rented a house for 5 or 6 years for a family of five even though they both were professionals with good income, because they knew we would move in a few years time once we found the place where we wanted to stay put. Then we moved into a rented house there for a couple of years to suss the housing market and find the 'perfect home'. They bought it, and now are still living there 40 years later.

[@horizoon]

I might inherit property some day but with my income in Munich there's just no way I could buy property on my own.

[@davidareeves]

With the rental crisis in Australia atm, this looks like an option IF the government really wanted to sort the problem out imho. At least you have Lease options that are not Land Lord centric

[@adrianmclean9195]

I totally agree - I think she would be horrified to see what is happening in Australia at the moment. And I don't believe any of it is justified, due to previous record low rates, just pure greed and unrealistic housing bubble

[@patriciaE.]

Also the side costs are extremely high. You can not afford that everytime you move.... My Mom loves that she does not have to care about maintenance.

[@IMFLordVader]

I've bought a one-room-apartment in 2014 and build a 5-apartement-house in 2020. And I am living as a renter by myself. I'm 38yo It's exactly how she explaines it. In one of the apartements the mother of my oldest friend moved and sold her house.

[@lordzizo375]

Im half American half German visited New York and the US 35 times in my life and Munich we moved already 7 times through munich due to job or school.

[@blaucharly78]

Additional: German Landlords have to maintein their properties. If something does not work they have to fix it or the renter can reduce the rent.

[@Nina-rj4nu]

Love your stuff 😀

[@Pfalzi__lautern]

i am 21, and only moved once in my life into small rented flat (60m2) for just 300euros (including electricity, water and insurances).

[@ciocofleandra]

Hello, currently I live in Romania, and yes it is true, here almost everyone has a house, because we buy and we inherited houses or property. I lived in Germany for around 7 years, most of the time I rented. The tricky part with renting in Germany is that if you are a foreigner it will be more difficult to find a rent, because you need referrals from people, University or school or your workplace, so they know they can trust you, also you need to pay a guarantee which is usually three-months worth of rent. The same rules apply for Germans, but if you live there it is a little bit easier to rent, since you are from there, a landlord will trust you more easily.

[@igeljaeger]

I actually did build my first house this year at age 27. And around 150k of the loan was provided by the gov via KfW which helped a lot. Obviously far from any city. I need around an hour to work but it was worth it for me. It wouldnt be to most. But even before the house I only paid 389 euro a month for my city apartment in Mannheim. Which was and still is super cheap and I never needed a car. German culture is just very risk-averse and even things like credit cards aren't super common.

[@martinwallroth6208]

390 Euro für ein appartement in Mannheim?? Krass, darf ich fragen wieviel qm² du hattest? Weil ich wohne in einem kleinen Markt "Velden" nähe landshut ( bei München) und zahle schon 650 Euro für ca 70qm². Und da Mannheim ja doch sehr groß ist, wundern mich deine Kosten

[@jasmo1520]

I'm german 22 years old and I have moved 2 times in my live. Always in a rental apartment and my experience were mostly good. Which quality you have at rental apartments depends mostly on the price and the apartments owners. So i have experienced that some aren't very strict with rules and let you do mostly everything with the apartment. But there are also the owners who are realy strict about painting, flooring and house rules. I don't wanna live my whole life in a rental apartment, because you are always restricted in some parts of what you are doing in your apartment especially how you wanna adapt your apartment. And a big part are the neighbors who are living in the same house. You have to have good luck, otherwise you'll always have problems with them. But a big pro for rental living and that ist why i'm in rental living is that it's much more affortable and flexible than to own a house or apartment. With my current income and savings I could never affort an own house and I have a pretty average income. No bank would loan me the money for buying a house. I would buy my own house only if I'd know that I wanna stay there, because you have to go to a lot of institutions until you can say it's yours. So it's a big effort to buy a house. For now I'm pretty happy with rental living, but definitly wanna achieve a house in the Future

[@AlexanderLehmann-c6z]

I live in Dresden. We had tried for four years to buy a House for our family. During this time, prices increased 50%. Finally, we just moved to a bigger flat next door owned by the same housing. cooperative. I guess, thats something you don't have in the US, big housing cooperatives?

[@zolly9919]

Where i life we have some empty houses but they dont get selled.

[@kexi9906]

Such an interesting topic! Really love your Chanel! Basically just binge watching the German reaction playlist since the past few hours 😅 As we are right now on becoming a house owner ourselves, I will share some of my experiences. Bear with me it’s gonna be a looong article. But first, in my personal opinion I believe people in more rural areas are more likely to pursue a home ownership even at a younger age. But totally depending on the financial situation of course. And secondly I perceive a house ownership to be more reserved for well situated and high income people. Mostly just families really. Because as a single it just isn’t worthwhile. It all comes down to the prices from my point of view. I believe in the US and as well in other countries, as I know it from China at first hand, it is more common that real estates taking over the projecting, designing, building and clarifying government issues for you. And you just buy a turnkey house. Whilst in Germany, you mostly do everything by yourself and start from scratch on. First you have to find a suitable property. Then follows the bureaucracy like registration, notary processes with regional government. In parallel you need to find a bank who is willing to grant a mortgage to a reasonable payback interest rate. ( Btw. In our case, maybe even our kids have to payback our house - we are not even 40 yet) But in order to be granted you definitely have to present that you are creditworthy. But before the whole mortgage thing, we needed to make an accurate budgeting plan which considers all costs and buffers. Cost for the property itself, property acquisition tax, other taxes and fees, notary and registration costs etc. that are based to a XX percentage of the property cost. Also do not forget the processes and costs for finding an architect, a third party construction supervisor during the building period, the approval of diverse drawings many times back and forth, technical discussions, tendering all following guilds. Such as civil engineering, carpenter, window, shades and door builder, facade, flooring, electrical infrastructure, heating, sanitary, ventilation craftsmen, photovoltaics and so on. And once you have been able to do all price comparisons or even negotiations, you finally end up with a sum (in our case over 700k € for 260 sq m. Self and friends contribution excluded) to apply for a mortgage. The whole procedure from forming a purchasing idea until finishing the basement only, took us already around 3 years so far. Another half a year will take place until moving in and maybe another year to do the finishing off work like landscaping etc. I hope I was able to convey why it is such a big deal and life changing moment to buy a house in Germany. Although I do have to mention that we are right now in the worst period of time to build a house. Right in the middle of construction recession phase. Very very high interest rates with increasing world wide inflation, increasing material cost, increasing labor costs, increasing high environmental standard requirements and additionally less craftsmen’s (at least in Germany). Topping of, our approach of house building might not be the state of art, because is the more traditional. Since a few years, new houses are being build with an more effective concept. I looked it up, it’s called prefab house in English. Meaning construction, designing, consultation, coordination of all guilds are coming from one hand. Hence more efficient and cheaper but less personalized from my pov. Sorry that I’ve poured out my frustrating experience but I felt I need to share my story 😅

[@awoo6663]

we pay 480 euros for a 65 square meter 3 room apartment in eastern germany, its quality is quite neat and for this price, it's just insane

[@rampp17]

What I often hear from people as to why they don't want to buy a house themselves is, for example, if something breaks in the house. I also live in a rented apartment and the heating in our house broke. Due to recent laws in Germany, homeowners have had to spend a lot of money because they were only allowed to buy and install new technologies. For example, old heaters (old technologies) may no longer be installed. The new ones are very expensive and many people can't afford them. If something breaks in my apartment, I call the landlord and he will get it fixed within a few days or the same day. Of course, it can be that the rent will be more if something expensive needs to be repaired, but it's not as bad as if you own the house yourself. Our rent also went up because of the heating but that was very, very little. It's just easier not to own the house yourself. I think that's also a reason why many people don't do it, at least that's what I often hear from my friends

[@sangfroidian5451]

Don't forget, Germans have to have additional money to pay for all of the holidays/vacations they get every year, so have less to spend on owning a house. 😂

[@checkcommentsfirst3335]

We value materialism less than Americans

[@wald-meister6705]

Bullshit

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Joel. This was one big reason why German and British (top two GDP in Europe) were not converging and it felt to some people I heard that the UK was being governed to increase the rental sector, whereas voters wanted to buy houses. This all fuelled resentment in some quarters to the idea of joining the Euro and you know what came next (which shall not be named).

[@CoL_Drake]

i am honest here i am in my mid 30s in germany and all my friends are too, none if us could ever dream of buying a house ... we work normal "working class" lower paying jobs around 1500-2000€ after taxes so where the hell am i paying a house for half a million dollar from that xD i can say that for me and everyone i know in my age the reason we aint got a house is that its just not affordable ... i would like to have one but no chance ever

[@Beamy2000]

Well, its more stress free to rent, too. No struggle with having to install new windows, heating system, or expensive stuff like plumbing breaking. I´m happy to leave that shit to my landlord^^

[@hobbyamixd6801]

I have my own house. I live in a small village, its very cheap to buy a house here. My house with 120m2 and 640m2 property cost 130000€. The house is a bungalow build 1989. i bought it fresh renovated. I can do what i want here and when im old, i dont have to pay rent.

[@tweety77hf]

I am german and moved twice in my life. I am in my fourties‘. My parents and my grandparents lived in rental apartments. I am still living in my first own rental flat ( since over 26 years). I know the prices for houses and apartments with the same standards like my rental flat in this area is and they are so high that it is out of my financial possibility. What i could buy would be not my standard for living. The other point is: if something is broken or damaged and it is the problem from the landlord. He has to organize and pay for it. The new heater, the new roof, a broken window or a problem in the bathroom … not my problem.. i call the landlord and that’s it. And if the neighborhood changing in a bad way… i could move away. No german bank give a young single the money for paying an own flat with a higher standard, if the person has not minimum 30 % of the price and the acquisition costs (ca. 10% of the house or flat price). Price 320.000 Euro + 32.000 Euro = 352.000 Euro, than you need minimum 140.800 Euros in cash for getting the rest from the bank and having a save financing. BUT at the moment the prices for the houses are so much higher than they worth. So you pay much more money for a house or flat as it worth and the bank know it too. If you talk in ten years again with the bank about the new credit, the costs for the new credit will be higher than now and your cash is away. If you need than a new heatings system, roof or bathroom or lost your job… the people have to sell their homes and get less money back as they payed. To buy is good if everything went perfect and you really had enough money at the beginning, otherwise it could be the biggest disaster of your life. And the german houses are build differently than the U.S. houses. A lot rules and laws how you have to build , where you could build and in which way. The electric, the heatings system, the roof, all around the water, if you could build a garage or a carport,or how thick your walls in the house have to be. I see no reason why i should buy a flat or a house. I rent and travel (35 days holidays), that is a better way to enjoy my money. 😉

[@jasmo1520]

I am german too and have made the same experiences. Especially the thing that the owners are in charge if anything is broken is a real luxury

[@luciebrisson5881]

I live in Canada. Renters here are also protected against unreasonable rent increases and evictions. Most young people will choose to buy a house while older people often decide on rental apartments at some point because it is easier for them, less maintenance, services are included, etc.

[@Sion67Productions]

UK is getting the same way, Generation Rent. No one but the very well off stand a hope of owning a home as it is now

[@moritzwolf9748]

I live together with a friend in a shared apartment and we pay about 750€ for 72m². 2 big Rooms, small bath and kitchen and a big corridor. I can't complain, it's nice to live in Germany in a rented apartment.

[@mikekelly702]

GReat vid.Bro. Thats what we need here in the USA...is rent control. Rents in the USA are out of control.

[@trueamnisias]

Flip side of the difference in attitude is that home repossession is much less of a risk in Germany than US, as you have to have sound financial planning, realistic prospect of paying off your debt and a more substantial downpayment. When the housing bubble burst during the financial crisis in the US it exposed these risks.

[@diekirsche5463]

The problem is not the House itself. You can build a good house for about 200-300k €. But if you want to live near your workplace, which is mostly in a city, the estate prices are very high. Even 20km outside of the bigger cities, you pay around 500-700€ per sqm. And overall 600-700k € is to much for most working people.

[@johnfisher9816]

Very informative Joel. It reminds me of the old joke: "Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian, and it's all organised by the Swiss. Hell is where the chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, the police are German, and it's all organised by the Italians." As for owning vs. buying here, I found this from 2012: "In both the United States and Canada, two out of three households own their residence. But the similarities in home ownership seem to stop there. According to these infographics by Domicile Experts Marketing + Communications Inc, 47.3 percent of Canadians own their home without a mortgage compared to 32.1 percent of Americans. Our northern neighbors also appear to own bigger houses: 43.4 percent of Canadians own houses with seven or more rooms compared to 30.5 percent of Americans. And while 7 percent of U.S. homeowners live in mobile homes and trailers, only 2 percent of Canadians do." Jana Kasperkevic John in Canada

[@johnfisher9816]

@@Michael_from_EU_Germany True! I've always had great experiences with German police. Super professional and very helpful. Any traveller should never fear seeking help from them!!

[@alwynemcintyre2184]

I have a question, on the home loan. In Australia the loan from the bank is on borrower, so if you can't service the loan the bank take back the house. Then the bank will sell the house and the difference between what they got for the house and what was owed, the borrower has to pay. That leaves you with a bad credit rating, so getting another loan maybe difficult and deposits here can up to 20%. How does forfeiting on a home loan differ in the US and Germany?

[@bertnijhof5413]

In the Netherlands the government subsidizes buying your own home. You can deduct the rent from you tax and you can borrow 110% of the price. The result has been after say 50 years, that the prices of the houses have raised to such a high level, that the young people can't buy a home anymore. And there are not enough houses for rent, because government privatized the rental market, resulting in the managers buying Maserati's and Ferrari's from the money of the houses sold. Houses that were originally intended and subsidized for renting. So young people live in the basement of their parents, waiting for them to die :)

[@cheleya2721]

I'm German, 36 and I only moved once (out of my parent's house 😅) - not counting semester abroad e.g.

[@stephenveldhoen]

Joel here in a Canada 🇨🇦 to get a Mortgage you have to have a very good job plus a 15% down payment on the home. Most of the homes in Canada are $700,000 to $1 million or more. We have more tenants in Canada then homeowners. Most Canadians Rent Apartments, houses or Condos.

[@cayreet5992]

I'm a single without children and I'm already in my late forties (so definitely not founding a family any longer) and I prefer renting and letting my landlord deal with all the problems a house can create. As renting is pretty safe here in Germany, I see no reason to buy a house (or a flat). It might be slightly cheaper in the long run to own a flat instead of renting it, but at my age, by the time I could have paid off my mortgage, I might as well have to move into a senior residence or something similar, so why bother?

[@ElectricEnfield]

Am i a homeowner or rental? Im inbetweeen. When i was looking for a place to live after moving out from my parents house i had some financial problems. Rental fees are high. At this time i had no work and without work its literally useless to ask a bank for a loan for an appartment to buy. So my parents bought that appartment i want to move and i rent it. So whith the money to rent it i pay the loan, and my parents can save taxes for consturction, power or esle things as homeowners for rental use. So its a win win situation and the cost are less than to buy by myself. So my appartment is a part of a house with 3 floors and 9 seperate appartments. Im in the middle of the first floor, 2 rooms, 1 bath, a garden all flat acessable by wheelchair, a seperate Garage big enough to fit my motorcycle and a Car, Tesla model 3.

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

Even before WW II only a minority in the cities owned their own home, and if, then often not a whole house, but only one or two floors in a shared house (which had in cities typically 4 to 5 floors). Before as well as after WW I there were some movements to build "worker's houses" with small gardens for self-sufficiency, most row houses with small, but long backyard patches or (rather small) duplex and triplex houses with gardens around them. On the countryside however most people lived in houses owned by themselves or by a member of their family. Before WW I also the "Schrebergarten" movement started, providing gardens to rent (open-end) for people living in multi-family houses, managed by associations of the garden tenants themselves. After WW II some towns reserved plots for refugees from the Balkans and Hungary, which were very accustomed to have their own gardens (with chickens and rabbits) - they built only small houses to keep most of the plot for gardening. Nowadays many of that houses are either sold or rented out to younger families. There were different campaigns propagating (and subsidizing) homeownership in the 1960s and 1970s, but many people were always hesitant to mortgage. If your house is encumbered with mortgages, you do not really own it - your bank owns it. In times of low interests and high employment like the years between 2010 and 2020 homeownership was on the rise, but after the Russian attack on Ukraine and the following increase of inflation many potential homebuilders had to cancel their plans due to higher interest rates and at the same time rising construction costs. Buying and selling real estate in Germany is a highly bureaucratic process (which actually evolved to ensure the safety of both sellers and buyers from fraud or claims of third parties), which takes at least weeks. Therefore especially younger people, who want or have to be mobile, able to change jobs and cities, often prefer renting to buying. And in bigger cities the supply of rental apartments is in most cases higher than that of houses on sale, especially around city center. You either live in the city and rent, or you build or buy a house in the countryside and commute. Most people prefer to live in the city with all its amenities, at least as long as they have no small kids (and even within cities you can find urban neighborhoods very suitable for children). A few decades ago buying a house meant you settled down for good: You had found the job and the place to live out the rest of your life, or at least the next 2 decades until the children were "out of the house", starting their own family elsewhere. Nowadays that is not an option for many - people do more often switch jobs (sometimes have to) as well as towns / cities, and for some decades now many companies expected you to move where ever they wanted you, if you wanted to keep your career (that has however changed the last few years in many fields - now some would rather open a new office in your town to hold you). Housing companies may often prefer to sell apartments over renting them out, which however for most apartment seekers would be the worst of both worlds, so many of those apartments are sold in the end to small-time investors which then rent them out until they re-sell them (or in some cases until they retire and move to that apartment themselves to live in the city they always wanted to live but not could because of their job).

[@half_plastic2367]

Not every lease is unlimited, most often they are actually limited to agreed amount of years. I know I family with unlimited lease and 100 more with limited.

[@xilando6713]

There might be another factor. One may call it the feeling of "responsibility" or so. As for (not seldomly seen) Americans once build something, but then don't care anymore. After it's broken/down/gone they buy/build anew. Germans don't want to loose their money/investment. That means they constantly invest in their house and renew things to keep the qualitiy/market price high. So they calculate not only the loan plus side costs like hydro and so on, but also these multiple maintenance and repair costs over time. Seen this, the own house is a money grave in comparison to a space you let and achieve an income with

[@simonkustner1561]

My parents are homeowners, but me not, and also my four sisters aren't thinking about buying a house. The parents of my father were homeowners, the parents of my muther were renting a flat. I thing young german people in particular do not particularly prioritize buying a house. So I agree.

[@reinhard8053]

House "swapping" will cost you a lot here. In Austria you need up to 10% of the house costs for taxes, notary, agent... I have about the same move count as you, but with at least twice the age.

[@darkredvan]

The main problem is the non-affordability. Now with Inflation and mortgage as they are, it is very expensive to buy properly or build a house. A regular one family house - depending where you live - is about 500 K $ ++. You have to be wealthy, earn a big chunk of money (both of you!) or you just can not afford a house, simple as this. If you or your partner loose your job, get ill, or one of you dies - good bye house. It is not impossible, but hurdles get higher every year.

[@misterwong1337]

My "landlord" (god this sounds so 1800s) is actually a really nice guy. He owns a buildung company which he founded 30y ago and also built "our" house. It's perfect and for a city like the size of Tallahassee or Frisco paying about 1.2k for 1055 sq ft ( 😀, sorry but it is still hilarious to use the imperial system) in a nice modern home really fits. But nevertheless owning your own house is most of the germans has as a goal. The typical "House, Children" thing.

[@MrChaosProphet]

if i was to build a house right now it would cost me about 750k and thats not even something "fancy" or luxorious. also not counting in the property price. couple of years ago it would have been 550k which just shows how inflation and economy changed living and future planing

[@BarrySuridge]

Renters do not pay land taxes for a start and wear & tear is the responsibility of the home owners; only the tenant's liability if there is deliberate damage. Also, not stuck with a huge debt for 25 years or more. Bit of a no-brainer. 🤔

[@ostblocklatina93]

My 4 bedroom apartment costs 900€ per month. I live in the eastern part of Germany. Nobody wants to live here, apartment rents and houses are cheap. You can purchase a 5 bedroom house (3 floors) for 25.000 - 50.000 € 😂 in small villages in this area.

[@JaniceHope]

Wow, he says... meanwhile my grandmother has lived in the rental unit since 1955. And she fully intents to die there too. Prime real estate in a bigger city.

[@Ameslan1]

She is a neighbor of mine in Cincinatti.. I am in Columbus Ohio. which is two hours East of Cincinnati :)

[@BigJun1994]

I'm german and it is true that we don't move that often I myself am 28 and moved just once my entire life

[@jimmyincredible3141]

Renter protection laws are good, and the margin between buying and renting is so small it gets easily eaten away by upkeep, mandatory modernisations from ever new environmental regulations, bank fees if you need a bank loan to buy, or real estate agent fees if you sell again in order to move... Very rarely makes financial sense to own here, people buy for sentimental reasons or inherit real estate...if you crunch the numbers you are almost certainly better of renting anywhere in Germany...

[@ClissaT]

Here in Australia, most people want to own their own home. They can have the garden of their choice, do renovations, paint it inside and out, have pets, throw parties, generally run amok if they want to. Whereas if they rent they have to toe the line in many respects. I have been both but prefer to own. Even though most ownership is very expensive people will spend over 60% of their income on ownership. And their mortgage will be very long but they sell every few years and start again in a new place. On the whole, we are not well off even though our incomes are among the highest in the world. The difference is that we want that house dream so most of our income goes on ownership so not a lot left to live on which makes us seem poor. My preference is for rural acreage ownership but after I sell this time I will probably buy a house in a small rural town as I am getting much older now. The other thing we like to do is buy a caravan and hit the road to see the whole country. Or what is known as "doing the lap". We can camp for free in many places along roads or other places off the track. Or go to caravan parks where we can top up our water supply in the van, have a good shower, find a dump point to empty the toilet and deal with other essentials. But the majority of people doing "the lap" are older retired folks. Of course Australia is a very big place with not a lot of inhabitants so there is a lot of vacant land. Well not exactly vacant as it is owned by cattle stations who run beef cattle or sheep or dairy cattle in the better country. Still, there are many parts with no-one at all.

[@philip4467]

Having 0% to get home loan is the reason for the 2008 worldwide banking collapse, lending huge amounts to people who can never afford to pay it off

[@JohnnyDrizzle]

Belgium has the same rules

[@terryjohinke8065]

I'm an Aussie and we reject plattenbau type development as we have, and want , lots of space. Also multi- storey living does not appeal to many. Another thing I've heard is that if you purchase an apartment you have to supply everything like floooring, light fixtures etc. at your own cost. Is this true? To most Aussies living in a multi- storet buildind AND having to buy basics is deplorable. Here it's many rooms, large windows and views on as large a block as you desire. More like the US model.Thank goodness my German forbears immigrated here in the 1850s ( although there was persecution during the wars). Home ownership in the US seems you get a grea home, plenty of rooms and land, at cheap prices. You're lucky. Here it's the same but the prices are rediculously high. I'd ptobably buy three houses in the US for the price of one here in Australia ( average cost over $1-2m.). Joel, buy a housese.

[@adrianmclean9195]

This is true

[@bastianbastian6143]

Never had the intention to buy property, although I have a decent income and could afford it. For me, it is just more important to spend the money on travelling and buying other things rather than to spend it on mortgage and because of that have an austere life. Friends of mine bought a house and seldomly can afford a holiday abroad. Although the rents in my city (Mainz) are pretty high, I'd always prefer to rent. Also because, as she said in the video, when Germans buy (or even build a new house) they decide to spend the rest of their lives there, maybe because they also have a more emotional connection to their home, once they purchased or built it. Renting - under the descibed conditions in Germany - gives you the opportunity to be more flexible when wanting to move.

[@fernandlust532]

And if you own a home, you also get burdened by a mountain of additional costs. If thge city decides to repair the road in front, you have to participate in the costs. If the authorities decide that the heating is not CO2 friendly enough, you have to modernize, of course at own cost, and so on. So, better let the landlord worry about this.

[@adrianmclean9195]

Renting is "dead" money. Benefitting the landlord. Benefitting the investor / negative gearing At least if you own, you have that money - an asset. For the future Stability Fall back. Options. No longer have to rent. Can enjoy more money in retirement Choices Australian saying: always aim in life to own two " properties " Your own the house, you live in and the other you rent out, leaving you flexibility when you retire or later on in life. Financial freedom, security, stability. A lot of Australians, have a property portfolio.

[@j.a.1721]

It is not that easy. Owning a home is also a commitment and a responsibility, you are responsible for all maintenance, it usually is more work as well and you can't get rid of it so easily if you want to move suddenly or if your financial or health situation changes suddenly. And there is a risk that you might lose it (fire, flood etc). Not saying you are wrong, just that there are benefits to renting as well.

[@adrianmclean9195]

@@j.a.1721 Yes, I agree

[@lordzizo375]

You find that od. My Appartment has 35 cubic Meters small Appartments that 70 Appartments in this Building every Appartment has its own Owner. We wanted to buy it. But the Owner did not wont to sell. It would cost 17 years ago 100.000 Euros, now after Corona and other Crises like Ukraine War. The Cost tripled. And that is a small Appartment in Munich. A house you build youself or you buy it from someone that maybe you have to Renovated first. That cost you then 1 Mio + and the Adverage German dosent have that.

[@silviahannak3213]

Being kicked out in US...very unfriendly. What if you need time to look for a New Place? Did you know that it is expensive and in Europe...owning ground..is costintensive. We have less ground. Different here.

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

Most developed economies see home ownership rates very similar, ranging between 63 and 70 percent in UK, France, US, Australia, NZ, Canada, and S Africa. It is higher in such places as Belgium, Italy, Portugal (74%), Kenya (75), Spain (76), India (86), and Hungary (91). Germany is one of the outlyers at just 51%, with Switzerland at 41%. Btw, as for not moving, my Bavarian friends live in property owned by their family for over 100 yrs. My own home in E Africa has been our family's since before 1900. My best pal's home in Wales has been his family's since at least 1488.

[@almostyummymummy]

We own our house here in NZ. Mortgage free as of three years ago. We've been in this place for 13 years. Though given the housing market at the moment, owning is far more difficult than it was back in the early 2000s. Renting? Here? I'll stick with owning.

[@Londronable]

I'm pretty sure you assumed the "purple" bar around 11 minutes into the video indicated Germany while I'm 90% certain that indicated the OECD average. Not Germany. Most statistics you'll find about Europe will have said line. Anyway, it's completely different here in Belgium. There's an expression that goes "we're born with a brick in our stomach", basically that we want to our own place. It IS rather similar to Germany in that buying a home is mostly a 30+ thing because the flexibility to move is simply useful because again, it's a rather permanent thing. My grandparents have lived in their place for 60 years for example. They had it when they began their business, they still have it today after having had a succesful business(obviously added 2 floors and all that). Only living in a place for 10 years would be seen as short lived and most of my family since I've known where they lived have moved at most 2 times over the last 30 years and plenty of them have not over the last 30 years. I'm 32 and had jobs in several parts of the country. Having a home would just have been a pain compared to getting a new rental. I have about 150k in the bank(Belgians don't like debt either) I can use to buy a place(I'm not interested in a big place, I can buy a nice 200k appartment) but honestly, just not yet decided on where I'll settle down. When I do buy it's going to be where I'll grow old. Probably somewhere on the other side of the country from where I live now.

[@juttastahler291]

Well, I am German and live in Germany. I can say that owning a house is very expensive fun. Not everyone can afford it, taxes are high, regulations are getting stricter and stricter. And renting flats is no fun either, especially in cities or near cities, where people's jobs are usually located, you first have to find a flat. I am not rich, I do not have a high income. In my environment I notice that the gap between very good earners and less good earners is widening. For the more and more "left behind" people, life is becoming more and more expensive and difficult. But I think this problem is familiar in the USA. For people in my pay sector (I'm a secretary), owning a home is a real luxury. By the way, German citizens (not the German state) are among the "poorest" compared to other European countries (when it comes to land ownership, money, etc.). If it is said that Germany is rich, that does not mean that Germans are rich. For that, we in Germany are the champions, right after Belgium, as far as taxes and duties are concerned.

[@lisasmith2660]

What if you have a bad Tennant or bad neighbour it must be awful, I have a long term tenancy ( no end date) but I could be evicted if I broke the tenancy rules or upset my neighborhood 🇬🇧🇬🇧👍

[@arnodobler1096]

My nephew bought a house and his immediate neighbor (a police officer) made hell for him and his family. He sold again.

[@gamensch2629]

I personally don't want a house, bc as big as it is I would need to put much more effort into keeping it clean and so on. Also I wouldn't need all the space I'd then have. As other comments already mentioned, most houses are rather in the country side so it would take more effort to gather most things you need in life. And I don't dislike the touch of the city, being so close to other people can be annoying at times though, but the benefits are just too great I think 🤔 you are fastly connected with people and places and don't need too much money to afford it

[@pixelbartus]

My parents are homeowner and i hated it. They they were always working at the house for some reasons. Here a renovation, there an improvement... So I decided that i never want to own a house. Renting is much more convenient. I want a home to live in, not a home to work at.

[@arnodobler1096]

me too 100%

[@rascalnz9983]

The USA is surprisingly insular, inward looking, ignorant of things in the rest of the world. (I have lived 3 years there over 3 decades- NY, Ca & PA). This is, of course, a generalization and certainly does not apply to Joel who shows most admirable openness and curiosity.

[@sc4952]

I am German. Was moving the past years, so buying Made No Sense to me. Last year, when I got an increase of my Rent, i decided to buy. I did and I was Happy with a Low interest rate of 1.1% (No its 3 Times that much). The increasing Energy prices were a Problem in n my calculation thou. I am an Investment advisor by the way..so If you need a financial advisor from Germany..Just drop me a Message.

[@jonasneuhaus4717]

"flipping houses" is unfortunately not a thing in germany, as there are high taxes in buying housing, not owning it. So we cant move quickly... owning is financially positive when you own 5+ years

[@philippbretzler7687]

Ca. 58 % of all germans live in rental houses. In country areas most of all people own own houses. In cities people pay rent her life long.

[@biankakoettlitz6979]

German financial adviser:Be careful what you are wish for, My experience was that banks robs you, like in each other country as well and that you must be your own adviser. my advise is don't spent more money than you have and save as much money as you can.

[@mats7492]

Germany is the size of Montana but has the population of california .. twice! its just not possible for everyone to have their own house with a yard and driveway..