I grew up in a Einfamilienhaus (one family house). And the one I grew up in was surrounded mostly by one family homes. My grandparents had their own Haus (house), and so did the families of my friends in the neighbourhood. As of 2008, one third of households in Germany is living in one family homes, and 12% in Doppelhäusern (semi-detached houses).

When I was about five I visited some relatives. And their place was weird, because when you entered the house, there was just a cold staircase and two doors on each landing. At first, everyone went into the door to the left. But I have always liked to explore places, so I decided to also wander past the open door to the right. I was quite confused when I met people there that I didn’t know and my parents told me to get back into my relatives’ Wohnung (apartment). So that is what an Mehrfamilienhaus (apartment house) is like! More than half the households in Germany (53.3%) live in apartments. And while most of the one family houses are owned by the people that live in them, most of the apartments are being rented.

When I moved out of my parents’ house to study in far-away Potsdam, I moved into a WG (short for Wohngemeinschaft, which means  apartment share). I would say that this is the most common way to live for students. Some students continue to live with their parents, some move into Studentenwohnheime (student housing), and others rent their own place.

And although I’m close to finishing my studies, I do not plan einen Kredit aufzunehmen (to take out a loan) to buy a house or Eigentumswohnung (condominium) any time soon. And I’m not alone in that. Actually, renting is the most common thing to do when assuring oneself a place to live in Germany. The number of people who own the place where they live has been growing slightly over the past years, reaching the stunning mark of 43.2% of households in 2008. Compared to the 2009 Eurostat statistics (see picture below), this puts Germany on the last place – far behind second-to-last Austria at 57.5%.

Now I’d be curious to hear about your experiences with and opinions on housing! Please feel free to comment – click the speech balloon below the title of this post!

References:

• Eurostat housing statistics 2009
• Zuhause in Deutschland – Ausstattung und Wohnsituation privater Haushalte (Statistisches Bundesamt 2009)

Vocabulary:
das Einfamilienhaus – one family house
das Haus – house
das Doppelhaus – semi detached house
die Wohnung – apartment
das Mehrfamilienhaus – apartment building
die WG (Wohngemeinschaft) – apartment share
das Studentenwohnheim – student housing
einen Kredit aufnehmen – to take out a loan
die Eigentumswohnung / das Wohneigentum – condominium