Real estate boom splits Germany into poor and rich

For a long time Germany was considered a country where houses are barely more expensive. The real estate hype since the 1990s was elsewhere: in the US, UK or Spain. But this decade, German apartments and houses suddenly become more expensive. Researchers are now finding that this drastically increases the differences between rich and poor. While millions of Germans suffer from higher rents, more than half of the wealth gains go into the pockets of the ten percent richest. This result of a study should further fuel the housing debate in the country.

In the past ten years, house prices in the largest cities of Berlin, Hamburg and Munich rose by 90 percent. This means that German wealth has increased by almost three trillion euros since 2011, adjusted for inflation. A huge amount, a trillion more than the entire national debt. In countries such as the US or Italy, where a large number of residents own houses, such a real estate boom is benefiting large masses. As prices rise, inequality in the population tends to decrease.

Source: sueddeutsche.de

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