Text 14060, 39 rader
Skriven 2008-04-11 13:50:23 av Björn Felten (2:203/2)
  Kommentar till text 14050 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Property prices
=======================
 WD> Where I live the minimum patch you can use to build a house on is 800
 WD> sq-meters (8611 sfeet). Lately one was sold here for 350.000 Euro

   Well, that's the price you have to pay for living in a country with a
population density of 341 per km2 (or even worse in the Netherlands, I can
imagine) with 392. As opposed to Sweden's 20.

   And living in the Antwerp area doesn't exactly make property prices any
lower, I can imagine, even if you still have a long way to go before you reach
the prices in Tokyo or Manhattan. :)

 WD> That does not include VAT and registration charges ....

   At least you Belgians are smarter than most countries when it comes to this
registration fee. Is it 12%? It sure as hell beats the stupid Swedish system
where we used to pay a yearly property tax that was based on the sales prices
in the neighbourhood -- something that forced a lot of senior citizens to sell
their houses because they couldn't afford the rising property taxes.

   Fortunately the Swedish property tax system is now slowly being abandoned
here, but still the politicians kept a "community property tax". Lower but
still a tax on something that's not worth any money until the day you sell it.

   A hefty fee and ditto tax on the profit you make when you *sell* the
property (AKA when you make the big bucks) is much more fair IMHO, and also can
keep the property prices down to a certain degree, I guess?

 WD> In this area, "property" will become impossible. Everything eventually
 WD> will be owned by banks and there will only be renters ...

   I sure as hell am glad I was fortunate enough never to take any loans on our
property. We built/extended it at the rate that we could set aside the money
for it. We now own every single brick of it and can gloat when the neighbours
are forced to move, now that the interest rates are rising again. The same
neighbours that used to frown on our house that never seemed to be finished
(and still isn't).

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