Home ownership in Germany is lower overall than in most other European countries. In 2022, Germany's homeownership rate was 46.7%.[1] During World War II, 2.25 million homes were destroyed with another two million damaged, reducing overall housing stocks by 20%. In 1949, West Germany enacted its first housing law and by 1961 had reduced its housing shortage from 5.5 million units to only 658,000. The mortgage market remained weak with banks requiring large downpayments from borrowers.[2]
Germany has comparatively low rental prices and a high proportion of rent controlled units. The German government does not deduct mortgage interest payments from taxes.[3] In the 2000s, Germany reduced government subsidies for homeownership.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Home ownership rate in selected European countries in 2017". Statista. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ Palmer, Jon (March 19, 2011). "Brits buy homes, the Germans rent – which of us has got it right? | Money". The Guardian. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
- ^ Phillips, Matt (January 24, 2014). "Most Germans don't buy their homes, they rent. Here's why". Quartz. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
- ^ Reisenbichler, Alexander (2022). "Entrenchment or Retrenchment: The Political Economy of Mortgage Debt Subsidies in the United States and Germany". Comparative Politics. 54 (4): 717–740. doi:10.5129/001041522X16314500561319. S2CID 239878271.
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