(1) Modern living conditions
There is a saying among Western Europeans: eat in France, wear in England, and live in Germany. German houses are relatively spacious, generally over 100 square meters. However, this kind of living conditions has only been achieved after decades of hard work.
In World War II, many cities in Germany were razed to the ground, and there was a serious housing shortage in Germany after the war. At that time, the country could provide only 10 million housing units for 17 million families. Many people took their families to stay with relatives and friends, or lived in temporary reception centers. The primary issue facing the government is to make every effort to build housing to alleviate people's housing shortage. Today, there are approximately 34.99 million housing units of various types in Germany, including large villas, single-family courtyards, and apartment units, of which 27.92 million are in the former West Germany, where the per capita living area reaches 35 square meters, and the number of housing units is about the same as that of families. The number of households has basically remained the same, and the housing shortage after the war has been fundamentally alleviated. Of the 27.92 million residences in Germany, 40% are private residences and 60% are for rent.
With the improvement of housing conditions, people are paying more and more attention to the quality of housing, which not only requires modern and high standards for housing, such as reasonable housing structure, modern sanitary equipment, stainless steel series Modern kitchen appliances, central heating, and telephones have entered every household
At the same time, as the cultural quality of residents improves, beautifying the residential environment has become a new requirement for homes. In Germany, not only do every home decorate their homes with flowers and green leaves, but enough open space is left between buildings for lawns and children's playgrounds.
From the perspective of the corresponding number of dwellings and population, the housing situation in Germany cannot be said to be tense, but in western Germany
In some densely populated areas, young couples and families with many children It is not easy to rent suitable housing with foreigners. The reasons for this situation are relatively complex. It is generally believed that: First, the changes in family structure. Today, there are fewer and fewer families with two or three generations living under one roof, while there are more and more "small families" where one couple or even one person lives alone, and some even In order to pursue various freedoms, many teenagers moved out of their families to run their own "nests" before they were minors; secondly, people in the post-war baby boom period have reached the age of starting a family, and these people are in urgent need of housing; thirdly, foreign immigrants and people from the former Democratic Republic of Germany The large influx of residents, with the number of residents increasing by 4 million from the beginning of 1988 to the end of 1994, has to a certain extent strained housing in some areas. The increase in people's demand for housing also promoted the revival of the housing construction industry in the former West Germany. In 1994, 480,000 housing units were built, and the number has continued to grow since then.
The living conditions in eastern Germany are inferior to those in western Germany, where the per capita living area is 28 square meters. When Germany was reunified, many of the existing houses in eastern Germany were in disrepair and lacked modern sanitary equipment. The heating equipment was also outdated and in urgent need of improvement. For this reason, former East German citizens saw the luxurious and comfortable houses of their West German compatriots and eagerly hoped to own a decent and good house in their lifetime. In 1990, 2 million houses in eastern Germany were restored and modernized with reconstruction loans. From 1991 to 1992, the federal government allocated funds to repair and modernize 30% of existing residential buildings in eastern Germany. In 1994, another 1 billion marks were allocated for the construction of welfare housing and the renovation of old houses. In order to improve the housing conditions of residents across Germany, the federal government provides funds for the construction of welfare housing every year. In 1991, it was 1.76 billion marks, in 1992 and 1993, it was 2.7 billion each, in 1994, it was 2.46 billion, and in 1995, it was 1.9 billion.
(2) Don’t like high-rise buildings, prefer rural homes
Germans don’t like noisy cities and high-rise residences, and they don’t like tower-like high-rise apartment buildings that ruin their pastoral scenery. Looking at the urban buildings in Germany, there are not many high-rise buildings with more than ten floors. What can be seen everywhere are mostly traditional low- and mid-rise buildings. Although Germans work in the city, they like to place their homes dozens of kilometers away from the city. suburban town outside.
Anyone who has the conditions hopes to have two houses, one in a big city for work, and one in a quiet countryside for weekend rest. Being able to achieve this goal is not only a sign of personal success, but also something that can be shown off to relatives and friends. Germans love nature. Traditional two- and three-story buildings are scattered on hillsides, fields, forests or riversides. There are unique small gardens in front of and behind the buildings. Almost every house in Germany has potted flowers, and some families have indoor flower beds planted with various woody and herbaceous flowers. Even balconies and house edges are also fully utilized to plant flowers and plants. Colorful flowers fill the garden, full of poetry and painting, giving people a beautiful enjoyment.
Middle-class families in Germany mostly live in traditional low-rise buildings. Some of these buildings are single-family and some are semi-detached. This type of house retains a traditional appearance, with roofs in shapes such as herringbone or four-slope, compound folding, etc. The colors are also diverse, with northern tones generally being lighter, but no matter what color they are, attention should be paid to harmony with the surrounding environment. In addition, the living area of ??this type of residence is relatively large, and the space is utilized as much as possible in terms of structure and layout, and the design is also reasonable and scientific. In recent years, a kind of semi-detached building has become very popular. This kind of house is called "semi-detached" because it is two small buildings connected into one, and the two houses stand side by side.*** There is a gable wall, and each house has one family. There is a fence or a low wall in the middle of the garden to separate the two houses so that the two houses are adjacent without interfering with each other. This kind of house is completely separated from other neighbors, which can not only keep the living environment relatively quiet, but also save land and reduce construction costs.
(3) Installment payment to achieve moderate prosperity
Germans attach great importance to living conditions, and housing symbolizes a person’s social status and public image. Owning your own house is the dream goal of most Germans, but owning a single-family house is not easy for ordinary working-class Germans. Without strong funds to buy a house, they rely solely on private savings. Buying a house may not be possible until retirement. But in quiet suburban towns, lush hillsides, forests, and lakesides, there are various types of houses and villas dotted there. Their owners are not rich and wealthy, but ordinary German people. Some of them Teachers, staff, small and medium-sized enterprises, freelancers, etc. How did these ordinary people who could not make a fortune build small villa-style houses and live a prosperous and well-off life? This is the installment payment method.
Germany has a series of social security and housing construction policies, and the country has established a construction loan system and a mutual aid savings system for housing construction. In order to encourage private housing construction, the government provides low-interest housing construction loans to private individuals. Individuals can purchase and build a new house by paying a portion of the house construction funds in advance and borrowing the rest from the bank. Both parties sign a legally binding repayment contract. The loan can be spread over 10 or 20 years and is repaid monthly from one's salary. Buying a house by installment payment is very common in Western countries. People do not regard borrowing as a shame. Property lending in accordance with the law is regarded as a normal phenomenon protected by law. certainly. There is also a certain amount of psychological pressure involved in building a house with a loan. In Western societies with high unemployment rates, once you lose your job and are unable to repay the loan, you have to use your property as a mortgage. Only by working hard on weekdays and paying off the loan as soon as possible can you breathe a sigh of relief.
The building mutual aid fund system is a form of private cooperation to raise funds for house construction. The house builder takes the lead in organizing a cooperative mutual aid group. After negotiation, everyone signs a legally binding house building contract and becomes its member. When the funds raised reach the specified amount, they can collectively contract with the China Construction Bank to build housing. This kind of houses are often built in rows with the same style, forming a row or a residential area. Because the cost of building a house is lower than that of a single detached house, it is a very popular way of building a house. The Federal Republic of Germany has built more than 10 million houses through private cooperative funds.
(4) Welfare housing and housing subsidies
Welfare housing is funded by the state and built for families with many children, the disabled, the elderly and low-income citizens. Since the welfare apartment building was built by a public construction company that obtained preferential loans from the state, it must bear the obligation of preferential rent.
In Germany, low-income people who cannot afford the high rents in the free housing market mostly live in welfare housing with preferential rents. In western Germany, 16% of rented housing is welfare housing. At the same time, in order to improve the housing conditions of residents in eastern Germany, the federal government has allocated huge sums of money to build welfare housing here every year since the 1990s. In 1994, approximately 1 billion marks were allocated. In the following years, the federal government continued to increase investment in establishing welfare housing to alleviate the housing situation in densely populated areas in the west and in the east.
In Germany, student apartments are also built with huge state subsidies. The conditions of the student apartment building are very satisfactory to the students. A single room of 10 to 12 square meters has a washbasin, wardrobe, desk, bookshelf, bed, bedding and one or two chairs. There are shower rooms with 24-hour hot water supply in the apartment building. The apartment kitchen has electric stoves, ovens, refrigerators, cupboards and dining tables. There is a laundry room in the basement downstairs. A large coin-operated drum washing machine is available for students to do laundry at any time. . Each resident has his or her own mailbox, and the apartment club provides a place for exercise and entertainment for tired students. The rent for such a student apartment with excellent conditions is less than 200 marks per month, which is only half of the market price. Therefore, student apartments are the first choice for German college students and foreign students. Unfortunately, there are too many places to live, and only 1/10 students have this luck. While most students are studying, they also have to travel around to find a safe haven that suits them.
Housing is people’s basic need. In Germany, citizens whose income is not enough to rent appropriate housing can apply for housing subsidies from the government. Housing subsidies issued by the government are paid in the form of rent subsidies and real estate cost subsidies based on individual applications. When personal income increases to a certain level, subsidies can no longer be enjoyed. At the end of 1991, more than 3 million families in Germany enjoyed housing subsidies.
The cost of housing subsidies, which was borne by the government and the states in half, amounted to DM 7 billion in 1994. Today, housing subsidies have become an integral part of Germany's social security system and have been implemented in detail. They are effective in improving residents' living conditions.