<story><title>What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-03-27/swedish-housing-market-crash-exposes-economic-divisions</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>erur</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s definitely not every city in Germany that has this problem.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;re trying to live in one of the objectively best parts of Germany by a lot of stats and thus you&amp;#x27;re competing with a lot of folks.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m honestly sick of this whining about rent in top-tier areas.
Living there is a luxury, given the major move to cities and scarcity, driven by insane regulations and basic logic.&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of cities in Germany with very cheap rent, where apartment buildings get torn down because they&amp;#x27;re vacant.&lt;p&gt;But of course the entitlement seems stronger than the willingness to compromise.</text></item><item><author>watrami</author><text>It seems like it&amp;#x27;s the same story everywhere I look. Housing is the main driver of inequality and there is little change happening. We have the same problem here in Germany.&lt;p&gt;I am currently living in Munich to finish my CS Master&amp;#x27;s at TUM and build a startup, and it is absolutely impossible to find anything remotely affordable. I am supported by two startup scholarships and make enough to get by, but no landlord even gives me the chance in the first place after they see my income and plans. Right now I am paying 940€ for ~20sqm, and only because my mom co-signed my contract - which is incredibly humiliating as a 24 year old guy.&lt;p&gt;And even with high-paying jobs it&amp;#x27;s impossible to get anything remotely affordable. My girlfriend just finished her degree and makes 75k straight out of college and still gets rejected either for her financial situation or because the rental contract is already set to increase 8% each year - which we simply cannot afford. And it&amp;#x27;s not just Munich. Every city in Germany has this problem.&lt;p&gt;How the hell are we ever supposed to build up some savings, settle down and have a comfortable life? It really feels like being born 15 years too late for this.&lt;p&gt;Germany paid a lot for our education but offers us little reason to stay. We are already looking to move to other places and created a university-wide google sheet where we compare different countries and cities around the world for those kinds of categories.&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the rant.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>somedude895</author><text>&amp;gt; I&amp;#x27;m honestly sick of this whining about rent in top-tier areas.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know if this applies to GP, but we certainly get this in Zurich, Switzerland. We have a fantastic public transport system, and you can get fairly affordable apartments that are &amp;lt;30mins away from the city center of Zurich by train. But people somehow feel they have a right to live dead center in one of the most expensive cities in the world right after graduation.</text></comment>
<story><title>What broke Sweden? Real estate bust exposes big divide</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-03-27/swedish-housing-market-crash-exposes-economic-divisions</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>erur</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s definitely not every city in Germany that has this problem.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;re trying to live in one of the objectively best parts of Germany by a lot of stats and thus you&amp;#x27;re competing with a lot of folks.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m honestly sick of this whining about rent in top-tier areas.
Living there is a luxury, given the major move to cities and scarcity, driven by insane regulations and basic logic.&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of cities in Germany with very cheap rent, where apartment buildings get torn down because they&amp;#x27;re vacant.&lt;p&gt;But of course the entitlement seems stronger than the willingness to compromise.</text></item><item><author>watrami</author><text>It seems like it&amp;#x27;s the same story everywhere I look. Housing is the main driver of inequality and there is little change happening. We have the same problem here in Germany.&lt;p&gt;I am currently living in Munich to finish my CS Master&amp;#x27;s at TUM and build a startup, and it is absolutely impossible to find anything remotely affordable. I am supported by two startup scholarships and make enough to get by, but no landlord even gives me the chance in the first place after they see my income and plans. Right now I am paying 940€ for ~20sqm, and only because my mom co-signed my contract - which is incredibly humiliating as a 24 year old guy.&lt;p&gt;And even with high-paying jobs it&amp;#x27;s impossible to get anything remotely affordable. My girlfriend just finished her degree and makes 75k straight out of college and still gets rejected either for her financial situation or because the rental contract is already set to increase 8% each year - which we simply cannot afford. And it&amp;#x27;s not just Munich. Every city in Germany has this problem.&lt;p&gt;How the hell are we ever supposed to build up some savings, settle down and have a comfortable life? It really feels like being born 15 years too late for this.&lt;p&gt;Germany paid a lot for our education but offers us little reason to stay. We are already looking to move to other places and created a university-wide google sheet where we compare different countries and cities around the world for those kinds of categories.&lt;p&gt;Sorry for the rant.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>theshrike79</author><text>&amp;gt; There are plenty of cities in Germany with very cheap rent, where apartment buildings get torn down because they&amp;#x27;re vacant.&lt;p&gt;There are plenty of cities in Finland like this too.&lt;p&gt;But the problem is that the jobs aren&amp;#x27;t there. I could buy a huge house with a big yard from one of those cities, but then my commute would be over 300km every day. Not really worth it.&lt;p&gt;Or I would have to quit my job and start working in the local paper factory or sawmill.</text></comment>