[Arnt]

I too am an expat in Germany, and I come from a country where most people buy. I bought.

That only 40% of Germans have any interest in buying doesn't mean that 60% of Germans have no clue. It means that they have a system where buying isn't nearly mandatory. Rents are often only barely higher than the cost of capital for buying plus maintenance.

Both have grown, particularly in Berlin and some other places. (I live in Munich, which has had very high prices by German standards for a long time.) But that growth doesn't mean that the cost of renting is much higher than the cost of a bank loan plus maintenance etc. AFAICT, both have grown together.