LRT extension project leave out this area...
MRT multi billion project miss this out......

Luckily someone still remember about this area. Proposal to extend Monorail to Happy Garden !

http://www.nst.com.my/streets/central/monorail-extension-to-jalan-klang-lama-1.16052

Sunsuria Bangsar South - Ichiban !

http://sunsuria.cms.my/project/mix-development-0#

Kena Tipu Dah !

What is your understanding for those wording in the promotion below?

http://www.uoa.com.my/spcondoregis/index.php

My interpretation (version 1): If I register through this website and also be the first 100 buyers of this property, I will get an iPad.

I went to the launch with few friends, and two of them purchased the property. When my friends ask UOA Sales agent about this free iPad, this is UOA interpretation (version 2):
Oooo...you need to be the first 100 who sign the S&P, then only can get the iPad.

FYI, UOA usually will give additional 1% discount to their repeat customer, which I consider something positive and good to join as UOA member.

Both my friends who bought this property: Mr A, who is previous purchaser of UOA property, and Mr B, who is first time purchaser of UOA property signed their loan & S&P within 2 weeks.

Today, UOA informed my friend about the iPad news (version 3):
Mr A, you will not get the iPad lar, because you are UOA member. We have give you additional 1% discount already. But no worry, Mr B will get it because he is not UOA member.

I dunno want to laugh or cry. But definately feel sorry for my friend Mr A who rush to sign the S&P, but eventually told by UOA (last minutes version) that he is not entitle for the iPad eventhough he is first 100 purchaser. Seem like sometimes, there is negative point to be so call UOA "privilege members" :)

I told my friends, there is nothing you can do about this, because, if you see the image above carefully, there is a powerful word there - "terms and condition apply". The details terms and conditions was not spell out clearly, so the promoter can define the terms and condition as anything they want. Lesson learnt: Things like this (free iPad and etc), you better be careful even though the promotion is run by listed company.

Stella @ PJCC

UOA Le Yuan

Time to write something about this property since this property is hot topic these two days.

There are many launches recently, Leafz, Arte, Mandarina and etc... I didn't really pay much attention to those launches actually since the price is beyond my acceptable range, until UOA launch this Le Yuan project.

Before going to the UOA office, I saw the signboard - Le Yuan. I thought it is new Chinese Restaurant, I am thinking maybe should try see how's the Dim Sum like. Opsss...until I go inside their office I found out that this is the condominium name. Wa Lau, why UOA use such "china" name??? Really want to interview UOA director if got chance...

Address wise, I still confuse this area is under OUG or Kuchai or Happy Garden or Sri Petaling? After clarify with UOA, they claim that the addresss is Sri Petaling address. Ok, whichever area it belong to also doesn't matter as there isn't much different in term of branding among those areas.

Location wise, I think is ok, as there are few access roads link to this place. You can go from Kuchai Lama or from OUG main road towards Sri Petaling, or MEX Highway. Too bad there isn't any LRT station within walking distance, means you must drive in/out and bear with the traffic within Kuchai/OUG area.

Price wise. not cheap, maybe UOA see market still crazy about property investment and maybe also cost of land & development have increase over the year. However, if compare to others projects, the price are not that expensive though. Most of the units is medium size unit, range from 1400 - 1700+-. Only limited 1100 units available (<5%). In contrast, most units at Seringin Residence are large unit range from 1700 - 2400sf+-.

In summary, 1400 sf+- unit is selling at rm600k+- after discount, while 1700 sf +-unit is selling at around rm750k+-. this translate to around rm410-rm450psf. Guess that is the main factor attracting many people come to this launch.

Looking at the layout and size, quite obvious the target market for this property is family, which suitable for family that have 3-6 people to stay. While looking at the location of this property, the target rental market for this property is local chinese. It means, this property is not really an attractive investment if you plan to buy to let. It is more suitable to buy for own stay instead, mainly because it is quite hard to find local chinese that willing to pay RM3k per month to rent a condo.

Since is buy from own stay, then facing, floor level, and surrounding become very important factor. 1100-1500 sf units are facing MEX highway (quite near actually), while 1600sf onwards units are facing Swimming Pool/Desa Gembira condo/West. Obviously the better choice is swimming pool facing since this is their main point - 3.5 acres of resort style recreation facilities.

Design wise, typical standard UOA design, replicate of other UOA condo projects. This is another UOA weakness, lack of creativity. They work like factory, create a mold, and use same mold to build other projects. Please also note that the ceiling height is only 9ft 6", not as high as UOA Bangsar South project, but is acceptable though.

UOA Sri Petaling

Launch ! Interested pls go UOA Gallery at Bangsar South. Below is map contribute by lowyat forum.

Other nearby launch:

http://www.theleafz.com/

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2076512/all

The Magic of Stock Market

Within a month, it go up like no tommorow. If you invest RM100, you get RM2500 in a month. Imagine those invested RM10k, RM100k or RM 1mil.

Kristal View

Isola

Oversupply of retail and office space

Capital values for residential units would see some increases in 2012, but at slower rates compared with the past 18 months.

“Asking rents at most top buildings in the city centre are within the RM6 to RM10 per sq ft per month range, with only a few select buildings, such as Petronas Tower 2 and Maxis Tower, achieving monthly rents of RM10 per sq ft and above,” said the report.

Boyd said recent average transaction prices of Grade A office space generally range between RM800 and RM900 per sq ft. “But there are higher prices than these being achieved in the market. We have recently seen prices of RM1,100 sq ft or more in Kuala Lumpur Sentral and SP Setia Bhd's KL Eco City.”

Soo estimated that by 2014, the Klang Valley will have 53 million sq ft of retail space in 149 malls and hypermarkets.

However, Soo pointed out that only about 43 shopping centres and hypermarkets out of the existing 133 (or 30%) were performing well.


http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/1/business/9811668&sec=business

Invest in Greater KL

If you are looking for landed property, maybe is time to look "outside" those hotspot area....e.g. Sungai Buloh :)

http://www.starproperty.my/PropertyGuide/Finance/15938/0/0

Altitude 236 @ Bukit Manda'rina Cheras

New Launch !

http://www.ijmland.com/property_details/property_details.aspx?pID=237

I Was Robbed !

Today, I was robbed by a License Legal Entity, call BANK !

Whenever you sell your property within the bank lock in period, you need to pay penalty to the bank, or they they call it "Early Settlement Fee". The penalty rate is different for each contract sign, subject to your negotiation with Bank. Few years back the bank impose 2-3% penalty of the loan amount, which can reach RM6-9k for a Rm300k loan.

This is the clause I usually look at whenever I sign a loan agreement. However this so call License Financial Insitution getting very greedy nowaday, they will find every possible way to charge you as much they can. Mainly because they will earn less money when you settle the loan early than they hope. Some of the "creative" way I experience before are"

1. The Lock in period only start counting once FULL LOAN is disburse. Means you may serve partial loan payment during first 3 years during property construction period, but those 3 years is not counted as part of the lock in period. It only start counting after 3 years when FULL LOAN AMOUNT is release by bank.

2. Administration Charges. Some bank will impose thoudsands dollar of Admin Charges on top of early settlement fee. Maybe is quite expensive to hire secretary for bank I guess.

The latest one I kena is LOAN LEGAL FEE ! I opted for zero legal fee package when I signed the loan agreement, which I choose to pay higher interest rate than non-zero legal fee package. Today, the bank charge me the FULL AMOUNT of loan legal fee because I settle the loan earlier (sell house), not a single cent discount ! Damn ! 

Consequences: I serve higher interest rate loan for choosing zero legal fee package, and now I need to pay FULL loan amount without discount from lawyer. SHIT, I shall pay the legal fee myself and can get discount from lawyer directly!

Worse is this clause is never mentioned to me when I sign it, of course this is not a good argument as I myself signed without reading the terms carefully. Few minutes of laziness now costing me thoudsands dollar..... I feel like kena rape.....but worse is can't report to police as the rapist rape me legally...

Property pointers

Property pointers - StarProperty.my

“The global environment is changing. Strictly speaking, an upgrader sells the old house to buy the new. If he is going to hang on to the old, he will have to consider the rental market where yields are falling. He has to consider whether the market has peaked in the areas he wants to buy and whether it can go further and that may be unlikely in many areas. Value has gone above the normal governing fundamentals of price versus household income, and price versus rental returns.


“Prices will have to stabilise. When considering buying the larger residential units for investment, the question to ask is, Can you rent it out? Smaller units will be more feasible. But having said that, we are seeing a huge number of 400 sq ft units of service apartments being built. While these may be affordable, buyers must consider rentability. Access, connectivity and proximity to amenities are important. And if there are so many of these units, you may need to take a longer period to rent and to re-sell in the secondary market in today’s uncertain climate.

Steve Jobs and the 7 Rules of Success

1. Do what you love. Jobs once said, "People with passion can change the world for the better." Asked about the advice he would offer would-be entrepreneurs, he said, "I'd get a job as a busboy or something until I figured out what I was really passionate about." That's how much it meant to him. Passion is everything.

2. Put a dent in the universe. Jobs believed in the power of vision. He once asked then-Pepsi President, John Sculley, "Do you want to spend your life selling sugar water or do you want to change the world?" Don't lose sight of the big vision.

3. Make connections. Jobs once said creativity is connecting things. He meant that people with a broad set of life experiences can often see things that others miss. He took calligraphy classes that didn't have any practical use in his life -- until he built the Macintosh. Jobs traveled to India and Asia. He studied design and hospitality. Don't live in a bubble. Connect ideas from different fields.

4. Say no to 1,000 things. Jobs was as proud of what Apple chose not to do as he was of what Apple did. When he returned in Apple in 1997, he took a company with 350 products and reduced them to 10 products in a two-year period. Why? So he could put the "A-Team" on each product. What are you saying "no" to?  

5. Create insanely different experiences. Jobs also sought innovation in the customer-service experience. When he first came up with the concept for the Apple Stores, he said they would be different because instead of just moving boxes, the stores would enrich lives. Everything about the experience you have when you walk into an Apple store is intended to enrich your life and to create an emotional connection between you and the Apple brand. What are you doing to enrich the lives of your customers?

6. Master the message. You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can't communicate your ideas, it doesn't matter. Jobs was the world's greatest corporate storyteller. Instead of simply delivering a presentation like most people do, he informed, he educated, he inspired and he entertained, all in one presentation.

7. Sell dreams, not products. Jobs captured our imagination because he really understood his customer. He knew that tablets would not capture our imaginations if they were too complicated. The result? One button on the front of an iPad. It's so simple, a 2-year-old can use it. Your customers don't care about your product. They care about themselves, their hopes, their ambitions. Jobs taught us that if you help your customers reach their dreams, you'll win them over.

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/steve-jobs-and-the-7-rules-of-success.html

The New Atria

http://www.atria.com.my/

Connecting The Dots....

British house prices fall further in September

British house prices fall further in September: survey - StarProperty.my

British house prices slid 0.5 percent in September, after dropping 1.1 percent the previous month, data from a top home-loans provider showed on Thursday.

Steve Jobs: Rules For Success

Bicycle For Our Minds

China Richest Village

China's "model" village has given itself an ostentatious gift for its 50th birthday: a skyscraper tallr than the Eiffel Tower or New York's Chrysler building.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8799083/Chinas-richest-village-opens-its-own-skyscraper.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaxi_Village

All the villagers have a wealth of at least more than one hundred thousand euros according to the local authorities. The residents have received free cars, and large single-family houses built by European standards.

Bungalow

Hong Kong Property Shares Look Cheap

The whiff of recession trailing in from the U.S., Japan and several European economies has sharply undercut Hong Kong real-estate shares, some of which are off 40% or more from the peaks. "The market seems to have discounted over a 50% drop in residential and office prices," says Jonas Kan, analyst for Daiwa Capital Markets. He says the selloff is "clearly overdone," since the shares' depressed values don't reflect underlying physical assets or corporate fundamentals.

Housing prices have fallen only marginally—on average 5% or so over the past three months—despite property stock prices that reflect some sort of Armageddon. Mortgage rates for most first-time home buyers remain affordable, at 3%, and money continues to flood in from rich mainland Chinese investors, who make up nearly 30% of buyers of new property developments. Analysts say it is unlikely that prospects for Hong Kong real estate will get worse unless there is a sharp rise in the current 3.2% unemployment rate in the city-state—something seen as a long shot, given the mainland's high growth rates. Overall, Hong Kong's deposit base has grown to HK$7 trillion (US$898 billion), from HK$2.7 trillion in 1997

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748704900704576595091871806656.html

Another New Lauching @ Sri Petaling / OUG ?

KUALA LUMPUR: UOA Development Bhd and Vietnam-based Hoa Binh Construction and Real Estate Corp will jointly develop the Sri Petaling residential project.

The project would comprise 670 condominium units and would have a gross development value of RM400mil, UOA said in a statement.

It said work on the project was scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter for completion by end-2013.

Both companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday.

As part of the MoU, a commitment was made by UOA and Hoa Binh to explore a synergy of construction capabilities for projects in Malaysia, Vietnam and other parts of the region.
UOA said it was confident that the strategic collaboration with Hoa Binh would complement its existing construction activities. — Bernama

http://www.uoa.com.my/spcondoregis/index.php

Look Nice :) - Sunway Montana

http://www.sunwayproperty.com/pd/scpdd_Sunway_Montana.aspx

Now Only I Know The Truth !

I thought it was truth ...

Bulls are not enraged by the color red

The matadors of Spain -- and anywhere else, for that matter -- wave red capes in an effort to enrage bulls for entertainment purposes. People have since drawn the conclusion that the color must anger the bull.
But bulls are color blind. Being dichromats, it isn't the color of the cape that bothers them, but the movement of the fabric. This incites the bull to charge.

Read more here: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-everyday-facts-that-are-totally-wrong-2011-8#bulls-are-not-enraged-by-the-color-red-7#ixzz1YUx4Tugc

What's Now ?

Notice recently property market in Malaysia is cooling down .....
- There are fewer new property launches
- Fewer people looking for house, base on feedback from agents
- Government start exploring method to further bring down living cost, by limit 1 person 1 house....
- Fear of global economy recession
- Plunge in global stock market

==> All are negative news.

Guess now most people are at wait and see attitude, seeking for the direction....

On the other hand, oversea property investment start getting hot in Malaysia, especially UK, US and Australia .....People start leverage on weaker Pound Sterling (UK) and US dollar, and some start planning for their future kid study and acommodation (Australia, UK)....

http://www.starproperty.my/PropertyScene/PropertyNews/14841/0/0

Whither retail space?

Whither retail space?

PROPERTY developers might have a problem filling their up-and-coming malls with prospective tenants given the shaky global economy and cautious consumer sentiment currently.

This situation is compounded by the fact that Malaysia has an oversupply of retail space.

“Retail supply is growing despite the economic slowdown. Developers in all parts of Malaysia are still planning and building shopping centres,” says Henry Butcher Retail managing director Tan Hai Hsin.

Investing beyond our shores

Investing beyond our shores

M’sians buying up properties abroad thanks to lower exchange rates

COMPANY director P.E. Chua bought his first foreign property four years ago, paying A$350,000 (RM1.1mil) for a house in Melbourne, Australia.

“My daughter was seven years old then and I was worried about the 6% annual inflation cost in Australian education. So I thought it would be a good idea to invest in a landed property there instead of another property in KL,” says the 44-year-old.

Chua, who has rented out the Melbourne house, says he has the option of either letting his daughter stay there once she starts her tertiary studies, which could be another six or seven years, or dispose of the property to offset her education costs.

Chua is among a growing number of local investors snapping up properties abroad, finding the prices almost at par with or even lower than those in Kuala Lumpur and Penang where prices have skyrocketed in prime locations.

Final block of Z Residence condo in Bukit Jalil to be launched this month

Final block of Z Residence condo in Bukit Jalil to be launched this month

KUALA LUMPUR: Trinity Group Sdn Bhd, the developer of Z Residence condominium in Bukit Jalil, Selangor will be launching Tower D, the final block of the project sometime this month following encouraging sales at the launch for Tower C recently.

Ng said Tower D with 265 units with unit sizes from 1,032 sq ft to 1,407 sq ft is expected to be launched in September but declined to reveal the exact date. The selling prices have not been fixed but Ng said prices would be higher than previous launches.

I Like This - Get an online business

1. Buy a domain name that is related to your online business. If you are selling gardening tools online, a good domain name would be http://www.cheap-gardening-equipment.com/, rather than http://www.gardntoolz.com/. You can purchase a cheap domain name at http://www.namecheap.com/ or http://www.godaddy.com/.

2. Get yourself a web hosting account to store your website on. Google web hosting providers' and you will have a large selection to choose from. I would suggest a cPanel-based hosting account (just ask your web host to show you which packages are cPanel-based).

3. Install a website on your hosting. My suggestion would be to install Wordpress onto your website, as it is the most commonly used open source website available online and it's free too! Again, ask your web host to give you a tutorial on how to do this; they'll probably even have videos or a step-by-step guide for you to follow.

4. Install a free theme for your website. Go to http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ and take your pick. Installing a theme can be done in one click.

5. Find something to sell online. You can either source for or create your own products, but selling other peoples' products as an “affiliate” would be a faster way to start. Commissions are typically 50% to 70% for electronic products and 4% to15% for physical products. You can try www.clickbank.com or https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ to find products to sell online.

6. Go to paypal.com and register an account so that you can start receiving money if you are selling your own products or services online.

7. Drive traffic to your website by telling friends on Facebook and Twitter, by writing articles on your website to generate search engine traffic, participating in discussions in related forums or blogs and even give Google and Facebook advertising a try. Track your web traffic by using www.google.com/analytics to see where your marketing dollars are going.

8. Repeat step 7 and don't give up!

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/9/4/nation/9424457&sec=nation

This Guy Got 9 Lifes

http://www.thejournal.ie/video-boy-survives-being-caught-by-train-in-sydney-211183-Aug2011/

This is So Creative !

Nowadays you may bump into someone selling HOT hand phone number like 2222888 at RM50-RM100. He will tell you the new SIM card will be activate 1 hour later. After many hours of waiting, the buyer only discover they unable to use the new HOT number, as the card is "un-usable".... Damn, nowadays people are so creative in making money !!!

http://www.chinapress.com.my/node/245032

Australia Property

Recently attended Australia Property Exhibition, quite impress with the way the Mat Salleh market and sell their property. Quite different with how local developer sell their project.

In Malaysia, you just need a brochure and price chart, you can start make sales even without sample house.

For Australia property, they will start by give a briefing. They share with why people choose to live in Australia, how good is Australia economy. Then they zoom into specific state, why most of the expat choose to live in Melbourne. Subsequently zoom further to their property, how its stand out among other properties in Melbourne. They start share the reason to buy from them, how they can help you manage your oversea investment and etc. They even brought together Australian lawyer to show you how secure is it to purchase property from them, as purchaser will be protected by the Australian law...

After hearing those points, it make me feel like moving there :) Anyhow, if you have time, no harm go and visit this type of oversea property launch, learn how other people view in term of property investment ....

Lucky Couple

This guy damn lucky, buy a house 300k-400k house and won a Mercedes at lucky draw during the appreciation dinner...

New homeowners win luxury car at developer’s gala dinner - StarProperty.my

Verdana @ North Kiara

North Kiara... a very nice name, wondering where is the location when I heard it. Went to site visit, it is actually near Changkat View Condo, between Sri Hartamas and Segambut area. Below are photo of the site and it's surrounding...

Another Project @ Happy Garden

http://www.uoa.com.my/spcondoregis/index.php

Renovation Contractor

For those who looking for Renovation Contractor, I would like to recommend one to you

Company: Vision TC Enterprise
Name: Juan
Phone: 017-2701887
Email: reno.vtc@gmail.com

They are One Stop Renovation Contractor, basically cover Interior Design, Wet Work, Kitchen Cabinet, Wardrobe, Plaster Ceiling, Wiring, Plumbing, Wall Paper or anything you can think of.

You may or may not mention your were refer by Wick Talk blogger. But, please do inform me if your are not happy with their service.  However highly likely this will not happened :D

http://lifestylereno.blogspot.com/

Should you invest in overseas properties?

As the writer wrote, you can see there are so many advertisement nowaday for investment oversea, especially in weekend newspaper. Most of the sales/exhibition are held in 5-star hotels....

Actually, other than the low prices, there are not many plus points about them. The negative
points, however, are plenty!

There are some restrictions – maintaining green belt is one – that prevent certain lands around London Heathrow Airport from being developed. So while you can buy the land but as it will take years to be developed – if it ever will – it means that your money will be stuck there.

The costs of hiring agents, lawyers and property managers overseas are not cheap.

Another trap is the high property taxes.

There is also a huge over supply of properties

http://www.starproperty.my/PropertyGuide/Finance/14122/0/0

Very Good Advice - 4 Rules for the Seesaw Market

The market roller coaster took another big dip down Wednesday, with the Dow tumbling more than 400 points midday before stabilizing a bit.

If you're like most non-professional traders, these kinds of wild market swings — down 635 Monday, up 430 Tuesday, down 400 Wednesday -- can be gut-wrenching, confusing and downright scary. (Rest assured, many professionals feel the same way - they just don't admit it.)

If You Can't Take the Heat, Get Out: As my Breakout colleague Jeff Macke likes to say, if the market is keeping you up at night, you shouldn't be in it.

Don't Panic: If you don't need the money in your retirement account in 5 years or less, you're better off sitting tight vs. cutting and running. Unfortunately, many investors simply can't take the pain and are doing just that.

Have a Plan: Sometimes the most boring advice is the best advice.
Investors who have previously established set patterns of portfolio rebalancing, diversification of investments and long-term goals for their money tend to do better -- both emotionally and financially

Learn from Your Mistakes:

Double Dip Recession

The risk of double dip recession is rising.

And while economists disagree on just how likely the U.S. economy is to fall into another downturn, they generally agree on one thing -- a new recession would be worse than the last and very difficult to pull out of.

"Going back into recession now would be scary, because we don't have the resources or the will to respond, and our initial starting point is such a point of weakness," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "It won't feel like a new recession. It would likely feel like a depression."

Zandi said the recent sell-off in stocks have caused him to raise the odds of a new recession to 33% from 25% only 10 days ago.

Other economists surveyed by CNNMoney are also raising their recession risk estimates. The survey found an average chance of a new recession to be about 25%, up from a 15% chance only three months ago.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Double-dip-recession-would-cnnm-3944039611.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=

This is Very Very BAD !!!

The stock market buckled Monday under the weight of a crisis in Europe and danger of recession at home. Reeling from a downgrade of American debt, the Dow Jones industrials plunged 634 points.

It was the worst day for the market since the financial crisis in the fall of 2008 and extended Wall Street's sudden, sharp decline. Stocks have lost 15 percent of their value in just two and a half weeks.

The Dow finished the day down 5.5 percent (in 1 day). The point decline was the worst since Dec. 1, 2008, and the sixth-steepest ever. The average ended at 10,809.85, its first close under 11,000 since November.

Economists at Goldman Sachs peg the chances of another recession at one in three, most likely in the next six to nine months. The threat was barely talked about earlier this summer.

The turmoil in the U.S. markets was the end of a daylong rout that swept the world. Stocks lost 4 percent in South Korea and 2 percent in Japan, then 5 percent in Germany and 4 percent in France.

Mixed outlook for property in H2

Mixed outlook for property in H2

Rahim & Co executive chairman Datuk Abdul Rahim Rahman said: “The market is giving a mixed indication, but what is happening in the United States and Europe is very serious and will have an effect on this part of the world. For example, the take-up rates of newly-launched condominiums have been very encouraging with more than 60% sold just a few months after launching. However, on the rental market, leasing has been less active and rental rate has not increased that much.”

“We are not sure what will happen in the second half of this year, but we are taking a cautious stand,” said Kho.

He said the prices of landed units would continue to go but they are seeing a disparity between asking price and transacted price widening. This disparity was seen a couple of months ago, he said. Prices have gone up compared with the first half of this year but the increase was less.


“We expect this situation to continue - growing disparity between asking and transacted price,” Kho said.

Why Germans and French prefer to rent

Some interesting fact:

Germans still prefer to rent accommodation rather than own it. Only 39 per cent of the population own the homes that they live in compared with about 60 per cent in Britain.

Germany's more cautious banking system requires would-be home-owners to provide substantial guarantees of their ability to finance a loan before granting a mortgage. For many on low incomes or with little capital, owning a home has simply never been an option.


And even when the Germans buy, they often buy a plot of land and have a new home built from scratch rather than buying an old house. This is in part owing to lack of housing stock. Even in Britain, attitudes are changing, with more people buying up older housing and renovating it.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/woman/house-home/why-germans-and-french-prefer-to-rent-16006021.html