The bulk of Germany's population has lived in apartment buildings since the industrial revolution, or then-abouts.
Single family homes, while by no means uncommon, are much less common than in the USA. And new construction of such houses is expensive with the land they sit on being very expensive.
The German real estate clique has gamed the situation for years, and produced stunningly high property prices and rents in popular areas to live (meaning areas with lots of jobs).*
Typical German family house is a 1950s-1960s structure. Most were designed such that entire floors could function as apartments and were rented out to pay the mortgage on the house. Typically, houses are passed on to the next generation because the costs of building a house new are formidable.
The latest sting, on existing homeowners, is to force them to conduct expensive upgrades on the house (replacement of all windows with new, "greener" models, etc.) if they wish to sell their homes.
Typical German who lived in their own houses tended to detach from societal turmoil. They had it made and that was all that mattered to them. But now, the leftism in Germany is becoming much more aggressive and going after the homeowners. That will lead to repercussions.
* - there is a flip side to this; in areas with little employment (rural areas of east Germany for example), property prices are much lower ... but people are fleeing from those areas vice going there.
Cheers
Single family homes, while by no means uncommon, are much less common than in the USA. And new construction of such houses is expensive with the land they sit on being very expensive.
The German real estate clique has gamed the situation for years, and produced stunningly high property prices and rents in popular areas to live (meaning areas with lots of jobs).*
Typical German family house is a 1950s-1960s structure. Most were designed such that entire floors could function as apartments and were rented out to pay the mortgage on the house. Typically, houses are passed on to the next generation because the costs of building a house new are formidable.
The latest sting, on existing homeowners, is to force them to conduct expensive upgrades on the house (replacement of all windows with new, "greener" models, etc.) if they wish to sell their homes.
Typical German who lived in their own houses tended to detach from societal turmoil. They had it made and that was all that mattered to them. But now, the leftism in Germany is becoming much more aggressive and going after the homeowners. That will lead to repercussions.
* - there is a flip side to this; in areas with little employment (rural areas of east Germany for example), property prices are much lower ... but people are fleeing from those areas vice going there.
Cheers
Fire In The Hole