It appears from this Table that the Central Germany group has a
remarkably low index number ; it is true that the group contains two very
small towns—Stassfurt and Oschersleben, but it also includes Magdeburg, with
its quarter of a million inhabitants, and Brunswick with a population of
136,000, and both of these large towns have low rent index numbers. The
highest rent level is shown by the South Germany group ; this includes
Stuttgart with an index number of 97, three towns with from 62 to 67,
Nuremberg with 53, and Mülhausen with 48. The Rhineland-Westphalia
Hardware group, which comes very close to the South Germany group, shows a
very much narrower range ; Düsseldorf is high, with an index number of 79,
but for three towns the range is from 62 to 68, and Bochum and Remscheid are
close together with 57 and 56 respectively. The index number for the North
Sea Ports represents simply the mean of Hamburg with 66 and Bremen
with 52. The towns of the Rhineland-Westphalia Textile group all come within
the very narrow range of 52 to 57, and form practically two pairs—Elberfeld and
Barmen with 57 each, and Aachen and Crefèld with 53 and 52 respectively. In
the Silesia group Breslau has an index number of 56, and Königshütte one of 47.
Of the Baltic Ports, Königsberg, which is a fortified city incapable of much
expansion, has a comparatively high index number (62), whilst Dantzig and
Stettin are close together with 49 and 46 respectively . The range of the Saxony
towns is fairly wide, from 54 to 38, but three fall within the narrow limits of
54 to 51, and the other two have index numbers of 40 and 38 respectively.
The towns may also be grouped according txp the number of their
inhabitants, and in the following Table the mean rent index numbers are given
for each population group.
Rent Index Numbers for Population Groups.
Population Group.
No. of Towns
Nil*
10
Mean Rent Index
Numbers.
Berlin (2,040,000)
Other Towns with populations exceeding 400,000 ...
Towns with populations from 300,000 to 400,000 ...
„ „ 200,000 „ 300,000 ...
„ „ 100,000 „ 200,000 ...
„ „ under 100,000
100
58
59
55
47
* The only German town falling within this population group is Frankfurt-on-Main,
which is not largely industrial, and therefore was not investigated.
Though this table shows on the whole a fall in the mean level of rents as
we pass from the larger to the smaller towns, yet the range within each group
is as a rule extremely wide, as will be seen from Table B. attached to this General
Report, in which the towns are grouped according to population. In the group
of towns with populations of over 400,000 the range is comparatively narrow,
from 51 for Leipzig to 66 for Hamburg ; but in the group with populations
between 200,000 and 300,000 the range is remarkably wide, being from 40 for
Chemnitz to 79 for Düsseldorf and 97 for Stuttgart ; four fall within the narrow
range 52 to 62, whilst three have index numbers below these limits and two
above. In the next group (with populations between 100,000 and 200,000) the
extreme range is from 37 to 68, with six out of the ten towns falling within
the narrow limits of 52 to 57. Finally, the group of smallest towns show a
range of from 28 to 67, and whilst four out of the seven are within the limits
28 to 47, the other three are within the range 56 to 67. On the whole,
therefore, it appears to be impossible to relate the varying rent levels of the
towns closely to differences in population, although there is a broad distinction
between the larger and the smaller towns.
