Isn't this happening to everywhere where jobs are? Barcelona rents are soaring but the salaries aren't going up much.
For a better quality of life for all, we have to start thinking about ways to spread this around more because now it's a one-way stream from low-density areas to high-density areas, the former has no future (it's emptying), the latter becomes unaffordable. (the more density, the more demand/production per square meter, the higher land prices and the higher all costs->prices of any production in that area, not just housing but anything).
Population density can be very valuable (it's efficient, for one), and I'm a big proponent of cities in general, but there are limits. At some point density starts reducing quality of life.
Same problem, salaries are around 55-70k for a decent engineer and rent is at least 1.5k month for a tiny place.
To me it's close to insane.
On the other hand, 1.5k a month can get you a 2 bedroom 10 minutes from the heart of the city. I'm not sure what you're used to but it isn't that tiny for Dutch standards. Certainly plenty for a single person who can get a single bedroom in a decent location around 1100, too. And if you've got a partner or roommate, it's pretty trivial to pay less than 800 per person.
Further, it's pretty easy to pay much, much less and still have a short commute to work. Again, it's not ideal but it's different from some US situations where you need to live 2 hours outside the city you work in, to afford the rent with the money that job earns you. In Haarlem, Utrecht, Hilversum are all 15-20 minutes away by car or public transport.
But it seems to be getting worse quick, particularly for those who don't have a well-paying job and a family it's a shitty deal, you're essentially forced out of the city because social housing waiting lists are 15 years.
(On a side not Barcelona is pretty strict on AirBnB. Still screw AirBnB, there is no need for residential accommodation to be used as hotels when rents are getting ridiculous like this).
Amsterdam is quite strict about airbnb too, entire apartments can only be rented out 30 days a year, but it's hard to regulate. Basically, you can get 150 a night, i.e. 4500 a month for apartments that normally rent for 1500. So there's quite an incentive to break the rules. Basically, if you have one 1500 home, you pay 18k a year, rent it out for three times that (54k), and basically live on a median salary at the cost of managing a single rental. It's pretty crazy.
I'm quite okay with tourists, but I think they should put a big fat tax on them. The notion that there's 7 billion people who may find your city of 1 million people an interesting place to visit, puts the locals at a gigantic demand-disadvantage. It's virtually impossible to compete on free market economics.
But if tourists are still paying 150 a night, but landlords are only getting 75 a night after-tax, then locals who can 'only' pay 50 a night can compete for space, you can keep tourist flows in check but keep it open to tourists too, keep your city open, let tourism sustain the local economy etc.
That having been said, Amsterdam has a few unique problems. For one, it's got an old city centre, the image of which is part of its protected heritage. That's why it's general policy not to build high-up, which means you're limited in your population density and get very expensive housing. In general building upwards is also tricky because it's a city built on swampland. Secondly, the crisis hit pretty hard here and construction halted for a long time and is only now picking up, but with a lot less (labor) capacity than before the crisis which had to be shed off to survive. Then there's the fact there just isn't a lot of space left to build, the Netherlands doesn't really commit to urban sprawl which is great, but also limits the radius of the city. And if you can't go further and you can't build upwards, plus you're not building as fast as you should after a crisis, you've got some big issues.
It probably depends a lot on the city area. It's true that this apartment was not really in the best neighbourhood, but the metro was close and the apartment was awesome.
Not sure about Iași or Brașov. Bucharest was expensive before and not quite to recommend.
In Poland (where I live, although I'm from Italy) they get 50k/y before taxes, but taxes are 19% flat and the cost of living is about half compared to Italy.
Go figure...
Devs are paid terribly here. Yet I've seen HR jobs for tech firms offering over 50k. Messed up.
That combo seems to blow up house prices and rents.
Higher interest rates might depress prices for cash buyers, but it seems doubtful that normal people getting mortgages would be any better off.
Its quite interesting how most people subscribe to religions that tell them to help and care for their neighbors, community, and those who have fallen on hard times, yet in their own daily lives they actively work to bootstomp the poor. Those beliefs and actions do not reconcile :P
This isn't the guy they highlighted (person was a man), but similar: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0913/Susana-Martinez-Can-...
That being said, nothing wrong with being against illegal immigration. It's illegal for a reason. But being a beneficiary of it and not being understanding of it takes a certain type of skill.
If you look for a 90sqm apartment, you have to plan 1400€ at least. In general, the more rooms you want, the more you have to pay for.
The majority of tech jobs in Berlin does not pay even close to €90k per year. That is the problem with averages. You have a few people earning loads and the rest on much lower income. It would be much better to look at the Median income in Berlin.
People who could be working at FANG are pulling 80+k here amongst the well-funded startups or Siemens etc. Google Munich pays over €100k for their standard dev roles, AFAIK. Zurich is substantially higher, but it's genuinely more expensive.
That's the thing though, isn't it? If you have the money for a down payment you are probably not in the group of people most affected by rents spiraling up.
Are they? Most jobs I see seem to pay in the 40-50ksek month bracket. Don't think I've ever seen a 'normal' software engineering job paying over 60ksek. But admittedly it's been a couple of years since I was actively job-searching in Stockholm.