• Darkhoof@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Portuguese here. The rental market in Portugal is completely separated from the reality of portuguese wages. As an example, minimum wage is 750€/month per 14 months. Meaning 875€/month if you count 12 months.

    Rents in Lisbon for a bedroom usually start around 500€. And the situation in the other cities with somewhat decent jobs is getting as bad as in Lisbon.

    • foggy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That is not too far off what it is like in most cities in the U.S, believe it or not.

      Where I am, minimum wage is $12. At 40 hrs a week this is $24,000 before tax. Roughly $16,000 after tax.

      That’s ~$1333.33 per month in earnings.

      2023 fair market rent in my state for a 1br is $947, but in reality, the units that are available are closer to double that price. I’d say most 1br units are $1300 - $1700 in my area.

      • DarkInspiration@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Our prices for a one bedroom apartment, depending on location, can also go that high, but I think you might be conflating what “a bedroom” means here. It’s 500€ for a bedroom in an apartment, not the whole one bedroom apartment.

        • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          When I moved back to Portugal about 4 years ago, I actually pondered on going to Germany instead, and actually went and lived in Berlin for a while and investigated and compared costs of living.

          Back then rents were already higher in Lisbon than Berlin (whilst salaries in the former are less than 1/3 those in the latter!!!) and the only thing that made living in Lisbon cheaper was that Portugal has a National Health Service (free to use) whilst residence in Germany means mandatory Health Insurance which for me - who have my own company - meant an extra €300+ a month in costs.

          In the last 4 years housing costs in Lisbon went up by almost 50% and in Berlin it was 10% or so (if I remember correctly), so now it’s actually significantly cheaper to live in Berlin, which is a way better place than present day Lisbon to live in pretty much every way but Weather.

          I’m actually living in a small city about 200km from Lisbon were I pay less than €400 a month for a one bedroom in rent, so it’s not bad for me, but that’s because I’m not having to live on the average portuguese income and don’t have to raise a family.

          Living in Lisbon would be crazy and I would be better of moving to a more cosmopolitan place like Berlin (especially because, having lived in Amsterdam, London and Berlin, for me Lisbon just feels like a pretty provincial city, hilariously filled with people who don’t know best and by comparing themselves with the countryside think they’re sophisticated and forward thinking).

    • Damage@feddit.it
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      1 year ago

      I think it’s becoming like that pretty much everywhere in the western world

    • PersnickityPenguin
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      1 year ago

      You should see Vancouver bc housing prices. 1 bedroom apartments start at like $1.5 million, average income is like $50k.

      • Darkhoof@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        In Portugal, we receive 14 months of salary. The normal 12 months and 1 month salary as vacation subsidy, and another as Christmas subsidy.