Cologne (dpa/lnw) – Rising rents and real estate prices, high ancillary costs: According to a recent survey, living in North Rhine-Westphalia has become significantly more expensive and is forcing numerous citizens to make restrictions.
According to the representative Infratest-Dimap survey commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) and published on Wednesday, more than half of those surveyed reported that their housing expenses had risen sharply (32 percent) or very sharply (19) in the past three years. More than a quarter of people (29 percent) said that the cost of housing meant they had to severely or very severely cut back on other expenses.
1185 people were surveyed by phone and online from October 17th to 20th. On Wednesday evening, the WDR broadcasts a documentary on the subject “How does NRW live?” (20.15, WDR television).
According to WDR, the housing costs, which have risen in many cases, are putting a strain on household budgets. According to the survey, 55 percent of those surveyed had housing costs above the recommended maximum of 30 percent of household income. A third of those surveyed stated that they had to spend 30 to 40 percent of their income on housing, and a good fifth (22 percent) even paid more than 40 percent of their income on rent or a mortgage and ancillary costs.
According to the survey, living has become more expensive for tenants as well as for homeowners. In both groups, around every second complained about significant increases. It became more expensive not only in larger cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, but also in small towns with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. There, 62 percent of those surveyed reported very strong (28 percent) or strong (34 percent) increases in spending over the past three years.
