Rent or buy? The challenge of access to housing

I've always owned my own home, wherever I've lived, and it's just knowing that you've got the security of a roof over your head and not being thrown out by landlords.

So we chose the neighbourhood, we purchased the lot and we built according to our needs.

It's an apartment in the city. Very comfortable to travel around. Cuts down your travelling time by half.

We live in a house that we've purchased with a mortgage, and I think probably the main reason is that to us, renting would feel like we're just putting money into nothing.

A few years ago my parents lived in a place that had a lot of flooding. Then the government built this neighbourhood to take people out of there. This is from COHAB (a low-income housing company). So they got this house and paid for it in small instalments. It’s already paid for and it belongs to my father. It is our own home. It’s not a place we like. We stay here out of necessity.

I live in a flatshare, which means that I rent a room and share the bathroom, kitchen and hallway with others. In the future of course I’d like to have my own apartment again, either on my own or with a friend for instance. And in the distant future, I would like to buy my own property, to be a homeowner.

Right now, we are staying in a rented house because we can pay the rent monthly from the salary that we make. We cannot afford to buy a house in the city with the salary that we make.

We rent this apartment here in Berlin Mitte. The flat is up for sale and we did consider buying it. But we don’t like the flat enough to buy it. It would be a great investment because its value will double in ten years.

I haven’t had the courage to buy so far. It has to do with flexibility for me. I didn’t want to be bound to a certain place. That’s why I have always rented. You can quickly pack up and go.

Oh, the reason I rent is because I have a child, and she comes and visits me in Sweden. So I have to have a place for her to stay, also, for that. My boyfriend has a house, but I don't know how he do it. But according to him, you must have a job to buy a property in Sweden. That's the thing. As long as I have a house to stay in, I'm thankful for that.

I like the idea of renting, being that I do own a place that I haven't been able to get rid of yet. I think renting affords you the ability to at least see different neighbourhoods and areas. So if you want to move somewhere different, you can give it a try before you commit to buying something.

You have lots of people renting apartment also in Sweden.

I think owning your own home is- 20 years ago, was the typical thing that happened. You got security from it. These days, I think it's 50% is rented, because you can't afford to rent and save up for a deposit, which is quite a lot of money. And it makes it more difficult for younger members of the generation to be able to acquire their own property.

I think it depends where in Germany you are. People rent more in cities, but in the countryside it is more common to buy and build. It is quite important to have a house and a front garden and …

That’s what you do that when you’re 80!

… and. Yes

Owning is something that people are encouraged in our country, but you also see a lot of youngsters buying smaller properties. They move from rented apartments to own apartments.

I think having a mortgage is quite common in the UK, at the moment, but it's becoming less so. I think, you know, 20 years ago, a lot more people will have owned their properties. Now more and more people are renting, because they just can't afford to get on the housing ladder in the first place. The people here, obviously, on the housing ladder already will continue to move onwards and upwards using their current home as equity to buy the next one.

Yeah. For first time buyers to get like the deposit together is just probably impossible now. And when we sold our previous property, it was like 90% of the people viewing it was buying to let, and there was only a couple of people that have bought it for themselves.

Most people often start out renting, and then once they find a mate or start having kids, they prefer to own. But that's not in all areas of our country, so.