[seszett]

House ownership is very different among the European countries.

I think it's somewhat rare in Germany and Austria, but you don't need to be very wealthy to own a house in France or Belgium for example. And you are allowed to install A/C, in fact heat pumps are very much recommended for new builds, almost mandatory even given the tight energy requirements today and it's becoming common enough to use a reversible one.

[FirmwareBurner]

Why is housing so much cheaper in France and Belgium?

[gfedtbyby]

It might not necessarily be cheaper but people have more generational wealth due hsitorically much higher home ownership rates. e.g. even Italians are much wealthier per capita than Germans. If we look at the median of course (the mean is comparable since inequality is much higher in Germany). Germans are just gennerally pretty poor and clooser to Greece or many east European countries than to France or Belgium.

The Belgians on the other hand are the 4th richest people in the world, and also Belgium has one of the lowest levels of wealth inequality. So it's much easier to inherit a home or at least enough cash for a downpayment.