In Berlin you can buy wohnungs for 500-1000 euro/sqm. Prices in other european cities like: Barcelona, Paris, London, Zurich, Warsaw, Mediolan start at around 2.5-3k euro/sqm. Reason why germans enjoy dirty cheap real estate? refuse to buy with mortgage!
there were reasons for the lower prices for apartments. prices are currently moving up quickly in Berlin. perhaps it is international arbitrage. maybe people inc. ,possibly u. ,who are familiar with the history of real estate in Berlin would post additional info.
thats why germans can afford to drive BMWs and mercedes and take long holidays in Ibiza, Thailand, Greece...
And in the US parking spots go for $100k!! http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/113428/parking-costs-premium-wsj
Americans have a tendency to totem build. They are very concerned with how thier peers think of them. So they would live in a 500K Zero Lot McMansion so they can show the world the big "Mansion" they own (Which they do not, the bank does) as some sign of success. Leased "C class benz" etc.. Yet they are up their eyeballs in mortgage payments(and now college debt as well) lease debts and are house poor. They cant enjoy life and they work like a dog for some asshole boss in some cubicle like animals in a zoo just so they can impress other people they do not even like. Fuck that rat race.
Acquiring property using credit contains multiple risk components. And people who don't ever used notion of risk understand this very well. This explains (form the first view somewhat strange behaviour) why people prefer to rent instead to own houses/flats.
the thing is, when you realize this, after taking mortgage for the next 30 or 40 years... its often too late
It all comes down to this. If buy a house and then want to move 2 years later, you will regret buying that house. If you rent the same house for 30 years, you will regret not buying it. Rent will go up year after year. Your mortgage wont. 30 years ago you could buy a house in San Francisco for about 40-50k. Today you will pay about $35k to $50k per year in rent for that same house.