schnäppchen or landlord

The German public and municipal leaders have been keenly aware of a shortage of affordable housing for some time now, a problem tackled by motions to outlaw entrepreneurial ventures like offering a spare room to rent or a couch to crash on (as an alternative to traditional hosteling and probably at the bidding of the hotel industry) but really exacerbated by industry-spin, I think, to convince potential investors to buy up blocks of flats and raise the stakes and the competition by appealing to their drive not to miss a prospect. It's something tantalising, like the venerated first time home-owner, to appeal to those with the means to have long crossed that goal and others off their list. The trend, which started with properties in the former East Germany, has continued to spread and in my second-city, I see quite a few rentals managed by consortium. I believe that the relationship between a tenet and his tenement ought to remain something personal, and not something akin to a health management organisation—ones HMO that defines ones health to ones hearth.

Off-shored holdings companies who have monopolised the market, becoming the country's biggest home-owner can indeed sell their tout as being a sound investment, since demand is high and supply getting more and more scarce. I think, however, the prospect is also quite a frothy one as unwilling renters go elsewhere and the business of buying up apartments will become just a nuanced bubble. I suppose housing in an urban area is always affordable, whether prestigious or functional—it's just that the clientele changes, from any given resident to a company far-deferred in a tax-oasis, well-cushioned against malingering factors, like deadbeats or inattentive superintendents or caring about the welfare of their colonies.