EUROPE’S well-nigh zero interest rates are being used to further hollow-out its major cities as those with capital in Munich, Berlin, Paris, London and Amsterdam are borrowing at no cost and buying up housing used as tourist rentals by the likes of Airbnb and others.

Along with this trend, steadily rising rents mean that the working and middle classes can no longer afford to live in the cities and must commute to work from far outside.

This is a global problem – rents in California are now so high that in order to find more affordable housing people are leaving not just its cities but the state itself.
 
It doesn’t have to be this way. One of the cities that is still liveable in for ordinary people is Vienna. In its tourist centre, rents are increasing but the affordable housing just on the periphery and an extremely efficient public transport system makes commuting easy.