ᐅ Future Building Cost Trends Over the Next 3-5 Years

Yosan schrieb:

Statements like this often overlook that there are definitely jobs available in rural areas. I hardly know anyone here who commutes more than 15 minutes. However, within that timeframe, you won’t reach a town with more than 20,000 inhabitants. As a result, most people work in companies located in the villages or in positions that do exist in rural areas (except in very economically weak regions), such as schools, daycares, pharmacies, supermarkets, local government offices, and so on.

Yes, that’s true, but most of the time salary differences are huge and/or there simply isn’t enough work in rural areas.

Well, I work for a corporation, and at a medium-sized company in the same role I would earn around $30,000 less gross per year. So it’s a trade-off between commuting and salary.

I choose the salary and then living affordably "in the countryside."

hampshire schrieb:

A different perspective: When Vodafone builds a campus for several thousand highly qualified people in Düsseldorf, they all need somewhere to live. Within a 15 km (9-mile) radius, property prices increase. Well-paid employees buy into the area. Add ERGO, E.ON, and various others within that 15 km (9-mile) radius, and prices go up even more. This has nothing to do with the fact that there are many good jobs in rural areas as well. The price development is a response to a concentration of high earners.

Correct! And let’s take Berlin as an example, where many startups initially hired large numbers of talented young people as interns. That might work at first, but then they also want to start families, buy property, or rent larger places, and that’s when the cycle spins.

hampshire schrieb:

Looking at it from another angle: When Vodafone builds a campus for several thousand highly skilled employees in Düsseldorf, they also need places to live. Within a 15 km (9 miles) radius, property prices increase. Well-paid employees are investing in the region. Add ERGO, E.ON, and various others within that 15 km (9 miles) radius, and prices go up even more. This has nothing to do with the fact that there are also many good jobs in rural areas. The price development is a response to a concentration of high earners.

But "several thousand" is just a drop in the bucket compared to the size of the city.

The cost of living is lower in rural areas.
Commuting isn’t exactly cheap either. I know several people who drive 70 to 80 km (45 to 50 miles) one way every day. During the short-time work period in 2008, their income didn’t decrease.

So how much of the extra earnings actually remain?

When I consider what a skilled tradesperson earns here, at the end of the world, outside of industrial areas, and compare that to my brother-in-law’s engineer salary at a large corporation,
the difference in living costs between a big city and a small town is not compensated.

Bookstar schrieb:

What do you mean by the countryside? The question is, from when does commuting become too long? For me, a 15-minute commute is ideal, anything longer gets less attractive.

A 15-minute commute in Berlin, Munich, or Hamburg is really nothing... Most people from these major cities commute longer than that. I live quite far outside one of these cities and my average commute is 40 minutes, which I find perfectly acceptable. It's better than having a tiny city lot.

haydee schrieb:

The cost of living is lower in rural areas.
Commuting isn’t cheap either. I know several people who commute 70 to 80 km (45 to 50 miles) one way every day. During the short-time work period in 2008, their income didn’t really decrease.

So how much of the extra earnings is left after that?

When I think about what a foreman earns here at the end of the world, outside of industry, and compare it with my brother-in-law’s engineer salary at a large corporation,
the difference in living costs between the big city and the small town is not balanced out.

I commute by train, which is less stressful and cheaper.

I don’t see it as wasted time either because I “zone out,” chat online, or read.

But yes, not everyone has good public transport connections.