Germans pay a quarter of their income for rent!
New data indicates that housing costs in Germany are among the highest in Europe, with Germans spending on average about a quarter of their income on rents or other housing costs.
This is what statistics from the European Statistics Office Eurostat showed, which were evaluated by the German statistical office at the request of the BSW party.
According to the data, the percentage of what individuals spend on housing in Germany in 2024 is about 24.5% of their income, which is 5.3 percentage points higher than the EU average of 19.2%. Despite a slight improvement compared to 2023, Germany remains one of the most expensive European countries in terms of housing costs.
In countries like France (France), Austria (Österreich), or the Netherlands (Niederlande), the percentage was much lower, indicating the possibility of better models. As for people at risk of poverty in Germany, they spent an average of 43.8% of their income on housing, which is nearly half of their monthly income.
In the European comparison, the highest costs were in Greece (Griechenland) at 35.5%, followed by Denmark (Dänemark) at 26.3%, while Sweden (Schweden) was almost on par with Germany. In contrast, both Cyprus (Zypern) and Malta (Malta), Italy, and Slovenia (Slowenien) recorded low rates ranging from 11.4% to 13.6%.
The chairwoman of the BSW party, Sarah Wagenknecht, commented on these figures, stating that the decrease in housing costs in countries like France or Austria proves that things can be managed differently. She called for a cap on rents at the national level in Germany and an increase in the contribution of non-profit housing to the real estate market.