I don't think Germany is a great example at all cause they would rather rent out to a good German girl who's dad has money than to a foreign professional who has a longterm work contract in Germany. I agree that the annoying lifestyle expats are a problem, but bringing up something completely unrelated with a whole host of its own issues is a really weird way to make a point.
Lack of building when the population is still growing.
Encouraging single lifestyle, both by kicking out kids early and shacking up later.
Cases where sitting on an empty property is risk free.
Infrastructure increases taking valuable space.
Giving early birds great deals compared to today, making them sit on huge housing for a pittance and making moving out a terrible deal.
And politically, there simply is no immediate incentive to solve things when the current population of homeowners does not contain enough people to vote in favor of those that don't own homes.
Had absolutely no problem with it in the UK, US, or Taiwan. Most places you can just pay in advance to make up for lack of credit history. In Germany it makes you suspicious. So no, it's not everywhere. Given how many expats there are across the globe and given that there is 190+ countries on the planet, I'm not sure that Germany is actually in the majority here.
