All complaining about the skyrocketing cost of housing in Germany – so it often seems. But really fly all of these costs to the ears? Probably not. Also with this development, there are winners and losers. And this contributes, apparently, to a considerable extent, the division between rich and Poor in Germany is widening. How strong is the housing market exacerbated the inequality, now shows for the first time, a study with alarming results.

After that, the poor households in Germany fell back in the last twenty years, financially. In 2013, the net income per capita was in the middle of the company would be almost twice as high as in the lowest tenth of the population. The distance between these two income groups grew over the course of two decades (1993 to 2013) by a remarkable 22 percentage points, as Economists Christian Dustmann (University College London), Bernd Fitzenberger, Markus Zimmermann (both Humboldt-University of Berlin) do the math. But even more extreme the gap is, if one looks at what these households have expenses for your apartment. In this type of the net income of the gap in the same period grew by 62 percentage points. The housing costs seem to be exploding, especially among the poor.

This article dates back to the TIME no 53/2018. Here you can read the entire issue.

Indeed, the investigation shows that rising Rents, placing a particular burden on low-income earners. The average housing costs increased for the lowest quintile between 1993 and 2013, to more than 30 percent – even though their income declined in the same period by eight percent. The other way around, the development looks at the highest-earning fifth of the company: your housing costs fell by almost ten percent, while their income by about eight percent grew. They are, at least on average – so the winner of the current Trends in the real estate market.

As an explanation, the authors of the study point to the fact that most of them live on low incomes for rent and also more likely to change the place of residence. You will meet the rent increases for new lettings are highest, therefore, particularly hard. However, many people live with a better income in your own home. You therefore benefit from the low interest rates and lower financing costs. In addition, other factors play a role, for example, that many people are drawn to low income from rural areas (and especially from East Germany) in search of Jobs in the more expensive cities.

The study shows that not only the wage development, a lot has already been reported, and provides for inequality. A second and also a strong factor: the Live. High Rents and low interest rates on the other hand, widen the gap between the Affluent and the possession of arms. The authors of the study make no recommendation, what should policy do now. But your results show how much the housing costs in the society columns.