I was referring to the Copenhagen area in particular.
It's a nice balance between salaries and house prices. Malmö is even better. Since housing is usually taking the majority of your income, this has a huge impact on the quality of life.
As a postdoc, you can easily buy a house in Copenhagen. Or you can rent, at it's barely 1/3 of your salary. In Cambridge, an equivalent flat is more like 1/2-3/4 of your salary.
Also the rental market in the UK is really wacky with regards to tenant protection.
Malmö is cheaper because you get to "live" in Malmö, which I could never recommend to anyone, especially jewish or gay.
Yeah but at least the UK got a rental market, think about it.
Stockholms market is scattered and hard to come by without connections or help. But not only that, most people who rent out their apartments in Sweden will either go through the Co-op board and only get a year, or do it under the table, both situations adds a lot of insecurity to the tenant.
In Singapore, there is a broad market from super cheap and shitty, to super expensive and amazing.
Having a broad, free market helps consumers a lot more than having it closed down for a queue-system.
Sure, I can get a closet space with no air condition and no kitchen for a 1/5, or I can pay 3/5 and get a condo, at least there is a choice.
I can't speak for rest of Scandinavia, but I know in Stockholm that choice doesn't exist. You're forced to buy.
I don't think renting is better in CPH than in Stockholm. Right now I'm paying 10.000DKK (1500USD) for a one bedroom apartment, not in the center (NV). It was the only option that didn't involve any shady stuff like no-contract or not being able to register myself in the apartment. Most of my friends live doing one of those, or renting a room for around 5.000DKK (750USD).
That's a lot. I was renting in the northern suburbs (Holte-Virum-Birkerød) and I got very nice 2 beds for 5000-7000 DKK with excellent landlords. UK on the other hand...
It's a nice balance between salaries and house prices. Malmö is even better. Since housing is usually taking the majority of your income, this has a huge impact on the quality of life.
As a postdoc, you can easily buy a house in Copenhagen. Or you can rent, at it's barely 1/3 of your salary. In Cambridge, an equivalent flat is more like 1/2-3/4 of your salary.
Also the rental market in the UK is really wacky with regards to tenant protection.