Mortgage interest rates have nearly tripled in the span of just a couple of years amid inflation fears and strong economic growth.
Mortgage interest rates have nearly tripled in the span of just a couple of years amid inflation fears and strong economic growth.
Germany is a terrible comparison here. Home ownership in Germany is about 50%, true, much lower than the US’ 65%. However, the majority of those rentals are apartments rather than houses, since even small towns are highly densified, very unlike the USA. There are many state landlords which provide rentals at a very attractive price; it’s rare for people to spend more than 30% of their post-tax income on rent. Furthermore, there are extremely strong protections for renters, restrictions on rent increases, and they can renovate their apartments as they please. That’s very different from what American real estate corporations want.
The United States isn’t building houses; it is building apartments.
That’s great but the percentage of people who currently live in single family houses is much greater in the USA than in Germany.
If only the USA was building some solid laws protecting tenants…