Why Wasn't There a Housing Bubble in Germany?

[Saras]

I would imagine it was because they didn't deregulate banking and/or refuse to regulate new complex financial instruments like MBSs. That means banks weren't freed to leverage themselves several more additional times and lenders weren't free to offload risk on to a greater fool. No bubble, no bust.

Have you heard of the Pfandbriefe?

[VetLegion]

Due to these regulations in contrast to (for example) the USA the usual building material is concrete and you will find no (or almost none) residential houses that are made of wood.

OK, but it is same in Spain and other European countries. Regulation and permits don't explain why there was a bubble. The Germans could have inflated the prices of existing housing stock (apartments are real estate too) like everybody else, but they/you didn't.

It must have had something to do with availability of easy credit. My primary suspect is the down payment, which was eliminated in many parts of the world, but perhaps not in Germany?

I mean, together with China and the East, Germany was one of the rare countries actually exporting capital. This would suggest to me that interest rates themselves weren't the problem as they had to be in the range of 3-5% in Germany, which is a great setup for a bubble

[Drake Tungsten]

Why do Oerdin and Zkrib feel the need to have a ****-off in every other thread?

[Dinner]

Have you heard of the Pfandbriefe?

Nope, never heard of it until now.

[Dinner]

Why do Oerdin and Zkrib feel the need to have a ****-off in every other thread?

That's projection, Drake. Now stop it.

[Drake Tungsten]

Your post in this thread was classic Oerdin: "I don't actually know anything about this subject, but I'm going to assume that my pet theory on the American crisis applies here."

[VetLegion]

Good article about the German real estate market, answered most of my questions:

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Europe/Germany/Price-History