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HoUsing sHoCK Luxembourg’s international community loves to complain about high prices. But is there something to all the gripes about the cost of housing?
DATE LINE August – September 2011
JÉrÔme Krier: working with communes to boost development
Dublin (58) and Brussels (62). Yet Luxembourg still is more costly than many German cities, such as Frankfurt (73), Berlin (84) and Hamburg (88). “iT’s noT possiBLE” Nevertheless, in Luxembourg “not more than one-third of salary is spent on aver-
BRUSSELS CHECKS A leaked report said AUG the European Commission wants countries that seek to re-impose border controls within the Schengen area for more than five days to get permission. Various member states have proposed checks in response to an influx of migrants.
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age for housing,” says Jérôme Krier, special advisor at the housing ministry. “It’s not more than in most other countries” in Europe. He points to the Grand Duchy’s small geographic size, “exceptional” rate of immigration, high wages, and social changes--leading to smaller average household sizes--as
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Lucien Thiel, journalist and political leader, 1943-2011.
David Laurent/Wide (archives)
New arrivals to Luxembourg are often shocked at the cost of housing. Even considering the high quality of life, prices are without question high. Yet the calculation is more complex than the top-line figures show. The average apartment--which was an average of 80 square meters--sold for 297,285 euro in 2010, compared to 286,240 euro in 2007, reports Luxembourg’s statistics agency. Costs continue to climb: apartment sale prices rose two percent and house prices were up four percent between the second quarter of 2011 and the second quarter of 2010, according to Luxembourg’s housing ministry. The cost of renting a house went up nearly four percent and apartment rents jumped 4.5% during the same period. According to consulting firm Mercer’s 2011 international rental accommodation costs comparisons survey, Luxembourg is the 72nd most expensive city in the world, cheaper than Moscow (ranked number four globally), Geneva (5), Zurich (7), London (18), Paris (27),
Olivier Minaire
Text: Aaron Grunwald & Cordula Schnuer
TRAMS AWAY Construction of the AUG Luxembourg City tram should begin in 2014, the infrastructure minister said. The initial phase of the network will run from the congested central station area east to Kirchberg plateau and south to the Gasperich district.
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10 - delano - October 2011
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23.09.2011 10:04:35 Uhr