Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent

Re:Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent by analog31 on Monday October 24, 2016 @06:45PM (#12783578)

5. In a time when wealth is centralizing as never before, investments in real estate distributes wealth locally. I think there are valid arguments against public policy to distribute wealth, but there is a societal logic here.

I think this is a good point. Honestly, I don't know the economics of how property ownership is distributed in the US, but as a result, I can't say why we aren't all renting from a small handful of giant land owners, who can control entire cities or even regions. For this reason, though I know that the homeowner subsidy is regressive in many ways, and that home ownership isn't necessarily the most productive investment strategy, I'm hesitant to just get rid of it.

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Re:Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent by shostack on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @08:43AM (#12787385)

We are in fact all renting from a handful of giant land owners. The banks that hold the mortgages.

Now, you could argue those themselves have ownership distributed because they are public companies so therefore those mortgages are in fact benefiting shareholders, but banks own the majority of homes in America. And if you pay it off and don't pay taxes, the government does.

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