What the hell is going on?
Even outside Dublin, rents have become completely ridiculous.
7 years ago was the first time I moved to Cork. At EUR1k/pm, I was living in a 2 bed house near Cork’s City Center. It was a stretch to rent it but you should make an allowance for a house that feels like home. It was newly renovated and therefore a little more expensive than other houses around the area.
A 1-bed, cramped apartment located a bit outside of Cork costs EUR1k/pm. A 2-bed diving apartment is also available outside of the Center.
Last year, on this day in Germany, I was living with my family in Cologne. To live in a spacious apartment in the City Center for EUR800 per month, which was a lot considering the location, and to have it all to myself, I had to pay EUR800 per month.
This included long-term storage in a cellar, water and bins fees, as well the first EUR50 of my monthly electricity. The cost of living was significantly lower because I had cheap/excellent public transport available and could get a pint for only EUR2.
While I paid some taxes on this, which was about the same as what I would pay here, when you see so many benefits every day from your tax takings and your cost to live, you don’t really care that much.
How stupid can we have let ourselves continue to pay such ridiculous rent prices?
This is paired with the fact that it has been done cleverly this time to avoid a crash. Previously, mortgages went mad, people defaulted, then the economy crashed. You can be thrown on the street if you default with your rent. Around 90 people will then queue up to pay the full price for your old home, simply because they have no other choice. In either case, the mortgage continues to get paid.
Man, I don’t know why I’m screaming at the wind but this is ridiculous. We have lost our heads for a decade and are being stampeded on because we just want somewhere decent to live.
Who knows how someone with a minimum wage and the like can afford this kind of shite? Although I have a decent rate, it still makes me sick when I see the rent leaving my account every month.