this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
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Well, for 2022 I found that the average wage is 2600¥ or 330€ per month (with enormous differencs between the regions). That means a flat is 4 annual salaries on average, assuming ithe 15000$ or 14000€. That's not that much off a difference to Germany, where I am from.
So one could argue that this is just the advise "get a job and buy a house!!!" To a homeless person.
4x the annual median salary for a house sounds amazing to me. In the US, low cost of living areas can have a median income of $40k and houses will still cost $320k (8x your annual salary). In areas like San Francisco, median income is around $140k while median house prices are $1.2M (8x the annual income).
So it seems that housing is twice as affordable in China and Germany.
I think there are more factors at play than you're giving credit. For example, Germany has an average cost of 3000-5000 euro per m^3 which translates to ~$320-540/sqft. In the US the average cost of a house is ~$146/sqft in the south, ~$156/sqft in the midwest, ~$220/sqft in the north, and ~$195/sqft in the west. So while the 8x vs 4x comparison is accurate, you're probably also getting 50% less house in Germany.
The problem is there really are not many small homes in the US. Me and my wife are not planning to have children so a small house is really all that we will ever need. But there are just not any available for us or the ones that do exist are in historical areas so they are even more expensive than a larger house in the suburbs.
What do you mean by small and I think context of where you live matters.
Around me there are an abundance of 0.75k-1.5k sqft homes, typically they are older (1940-1980), and they are between $180-250k. They aren't in high demand because they are older, they may need some TLC, they have old styles, they are 45 min - 1 hour drive from the big city, and they may not be as big as people want.
I have coworkers who lament not being able to buy a house, but when you talk to them they are looking at 2500+ sqft, less than 10 years old, 20 min from downtown, but $425k.
EDIT: After typing this I opened Zillow and within 30 seconds found a house across town that's 980 sqft, $115k, 1950's, but you're gonna have a 45 minute (minimum) commute every day unless you leave for work at 5 am.
EDIT 2: Oh and 0.34 acres with no HOA