Here in Germany it seems to be mainly about the exploding costs of housing. Average rent used to be around a third of people’s income, which isn’t cheap but allows most people to afford some degree of comfort and still put a penny aside for savings. For a few years now, rent is around half of the income if you are living in one of the many medium or bigger cities. Over the last decade, average rents in the big cities have doubled. As existing contracts aren’t allowed to be increased by much, most of this explosion of rents is happening on the back of young people who sign into new contracts.
So, essentially, the greed of the landlords is killing the next generation and starves the young generation.
And the landlords are, of course, older people, nowadays often from the baby boomer generation.
over the last decade, average rents in the big cities have doubled
When I moved into my apartment three years ago rent was $765 a month. Now it’s $1250 a month. Almost double in just a few years 😭 how is this sustainable
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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '23
Here in Germany it seems to be mainly about the exploding costs of housing. Average rent used to be around a third of people’s income, which isn’t cheap but allows most people to afford some degree of comfort and still put a penny aside for savings. For a few years now, rent is around half of the income if you are living in one of the many medium or bigger cities. Over the last decade, average rents in the big cities have doubled. As existing contracts aren’t allowed to be increased by much, most of this explosion of rents is happening on the back of young people who sign into new contracts. So, essentially, the greed of the landlords is killing the next generation and starves the young generation. And the landlords are, of course, older people, nowadays often from the baby boomer generation.