Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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106 BREMEN. Thus, while the rents of £10 and under formed 34*6 per cent, of the whole in Bremen and 41’8 per cent, in Vegesack, they only formed 16*4 per cent, of the whole in Bremerhaven ; and while the rents of from £10 to £20 were 39*0 per cent, of the whole in Bremen and 27*3 per cent, in Vegesack, they were 45*9 per cent, of the whole in Bremerhaven. The principal reason for the higher rents in the comparatively small town of Bremerhaven, whose population in 1905 was 22,920, is to be found in the high cost of land caused by the limited area of this portion of the State of Bremen. Not only is Bremerhaven bounded on the west by the river Weser and on the north by the river Geeste, but to the east and south it is hemmed in by Prussian territory, so that expansion is virtually impossible. On the other hand, the conditions which circumscribe the growth of Bremerhaven do not apply to Geestemünde nor yet to Lehe, which lies also in Prussia north of the Geeste. Hence it comes about that Bremerhaven workpeople live largely in Prussian territory. Printed rent contracts are usual, even in the case of small dwellings, and tenancy is either monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly, rent being paid in advance only in the case of monthly tenants. A considerable percentage of the working-class households of Bremen increase their incomes by letting a bedroom or the share of a room to lodgers, and the presence of a large number of unmarried men in the shipbuilding yards and engineering works enables this to be readily done. The extent to which the taking of lodgers is conditioned by monetary considerations is illustrated by the fact that while the proportion of Bremen households with lodgers or foster children was in 1900 24T per cent, in the town generally, in three districts largely inhabited by the working classes and persons of small means the per centage was 45 - 0. It has been found that lodgers are taken most in dwellings with a rent of from 4s. to 5s. 9cl. per week—in other words in four-room dwellings —also that families with few children take lodgers far more rarely than those with many. The usual charge for lodging alone is from Is. Gd. to 2s. per week, for lodging with coffee and roll for breakfast from 2s. to 2s. Gd., and for lodging and full board 10s. per week. There are no special lodging-house regulations, but the police have power to step in where unhygienic conditions are known to •exist and to require their abatement. The rent paid by the Bremen working classes is estimated to form about 20 per cent, of the income of the head of the family, or 15 per cent, of the total family income. This estimate is based on an investigation into the housing conditions and the earnings of 889 families made by a special Municipal Housing Commission in 1904. A classification of these 889 returns gave the following result :— Number of cases. Ratio of rent to Income. Income Groups. £20 and under Over £20 up to £25 £25 £30 £35 £40 £45 £50 £60 £75 £100 £30 £35 £40 £45 £50 £60 £75 £100 Total ... («) Counting income of head of family only. 25 17 15 14 37 44 67 89 33 6 2 349 (&) Counting entire family income, including sub sidiary earnings. 40 23 38 29 59 90 123 198 150 86 53 (a) Counting income of head of family only. 889 58-4 304 21-7 215 20-4 208 19-6 18-2 17-0 12-6 10-6 20 7 (&) Counting entire family income, including sub sidiary earnings. 35-6 29-4 23-8 235 18- 9 19- 5 183 15-8 142 12-2 9-4 15-4

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