Any Yurpeans here?

[XemaSab]

I've been watching House Hunters International on HGTV, and housing prices are WAY the hell higher there than they are here.

How do people in Europe afford like 350K for a crappy one bedroom flat? Or is that only the price for a flat right in the downtown, and there's cheaper housing elsewhere? Or are wages much higher there? Or do most people rent for much less?

[Denninmi]

1. The cost of living is much higher there.

My niece's townhouse in the far, far NE suburbs of London cost about half a million, and its only about 800 or 900 square feet total. The two bedrooms are so tiny, according to my sister, that you can barely squeeze through between the bed and wall in the master bedroom. The car barely fits in the garage, and its a compact car. Just the way it is over there. I guess it makes sense in some way - the U.K. has an area almost exactly the same size as Michigan's, but the population is almost 7 times as large.

[XemaSab]

2. How can people afford that?

For people who work in shops or restaurants, how can they afford that?

[hobbit709]

3. They make more and there's all sorts of govt subsidies.