The cost of the actual home is only one third of the story. The other two thirds being interest rate and property tax. I'd love to see an analysis with those other variables.
I've forever wanted to see this, and I'm not sure if I just suck at searching, or if no one does this.
It doesn't seem like it should be /too/ hard. I mean, property taxes are going to be different in different regions of each country, but getting a rough average shouldn't be too hard. And it's not too hard to get interest rates for countries for the past 20-ish years.
The problem is that you don't have to just find two numbers (interest rate, tax rate) for each location and year. You have to account for:
- different approaches to mortgages (fixed term vs not, different typical terms, etc)
- extremely different tax regimes (e.g., Switzerland has no property tax, does have a wealth tax, and adds to your income an estimated rental cost for the property)
And now once you've gathered all of that data, you get to figure out how to make it all comparable :)
Great point -- but by taxes, I meant to include all that stuff. I guess that could get really tricky over time, since Switzerland--I'm guessing--introduced these laws within the last 30 years. But given that the economist article only covers like 30 countries, it doesn't seem like it's that much work. Maybe I'll take a stab at it.
Comparing them is a good point as well. The economist article doesn't go far enough in my opinion.
I'm interested mostly in mortgage payment vs rent. And mortgage payment vs income (after taxes).
Even income after taxes is a little tricky. Not sure if they're are any countries with REALLY high sales tax, but things like that could be worth considering.
Not sure how it works in the US but in the UK you pay a stamp duty tax when your purchase a property, and then "council tax" on a monthly/annual basis which pays for municipal services like refuse, social care etc
Interestingly the amount of council tax you pay is tiered based on a valuation of the property in the 1990s.
Yup, I'm a dual US/UK citizen. I equate council tax with property tax, the major difference being renters are liable for council tax as well, and in the states the property tax is usually built into the cost of rent. The property tax in the states is also based on the valuation of the home, updated by an assessor every 10 years or so. Interest rates are still universal for mortgages AFAIK.
It doesn't seem like it should be /too/ hard. I mean, property taxes are going to be different in different regions of each country, but getting a rough average shouldn't be too hard. And it's not too hard to get interest rates for countries for the past 20-ish years.