[gervase]

Are there any well-known theories that explain these disparities? I was quite surprised by the nearly-flat cost of housing in Germany (relative to inflation), for example. Is this a product of legislative, economic, or cultural differences?

[branchless]

German banks lend against productive endeavor, shunning the Anglophone rentier behaviour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpq2eqz6mR0

They also make land available to build on, unlike former UK colonies which all use a combination of zoning to suppress supply and loose credit to increase bidding levels.

All former UK colonies have land bubbles.

[ianai]

RE value is all about location and all factors related therein. Ie everything from local legal factors through to view and relative scarcity. RE in constrained places will always have a higher price/sqft than less dense places. The markets also somewhat ensure all the other costs of RE (ie building components like steel, wood, and labor) cost around the same from place to place. But land can’t be arbitrated between localities.

[detaro]

What does this house price number here capture? Cost of a single-family home? Buying cost of residential buildings in general? Or some combined index of actual housing cost?

some speculations:

A large part of the German market is renting, even more so in the "hot" cities. Many smaller towns and rural areas are struggling, so there are likely quite a few cheap houses available there which keep an average down, even if home prices in boom areas increase.

Buying a house is one of the few widely "acceptable" reasons to go in debt, but many Germans still try to avoid or at least minimize it.

[CalRobert]

Weirdly enough I've been looking at homes in ruralish areas and contemplating buying one to live in and work remote for a few years. Might be able to do it cash, even in an old walled city, and it seems like it wouldn't be the worst way to learn German for myself and my infant.

Any comment?

[CalRobert]

Germany has had a bit of a problem with a low birth rate. There's also a cultural dislike of debt I believe. I eye properties on immowelt with envy pretty often.

[VHRanger]

Zoning regulation differences account for a lot more than most people would think

[philfrasty]

The numbers differ A LOT if you live in one of the major cities in Germany. The house my parents bought in 2005 in Munich is worth at least 2x at this point from what I have seen in property sales in the neighbourhood.