New Yorkers eat your heart out when you are bragging about your rent controlled apartments, Fuggerei in Augsberg, Germany has you beat. Of course it takes a prayer (or 3 a day) to keep ones apartment for the annual $1.23 rent, but it well worth the price of admission.

The community was created as a penance by the top financial family in the world back in the 1500’s. All you need to still 500 years after the creation of the community to keep your apartment is pray for the Fugger family.

Mrs. Wunderle lives in the Fuggerei, a Roman Catholic housing settlement for the poor that Jakob Fugger “The Rich” built in this southern German city nearly 500 years ago. Praying for Mr. Fugger and his descendants to enter the Pearly Gates is a condition for living here, at an annual rent of 1 Rhein guilder, the same as in 1520. In today’s money, that’s 88 euro cents, or about $1.23.
Fuggerei is a Roman Catholic housing settlement in Augsburg, Germany, established in 1520 by Jakob Fugger “The Rich” to help the poor. The main gate, left, is locked each night and stragglers are fined for coming in late.Jakob the Rich was Wall Street long before it existed. He minted coins for the Vatican, bankrolled the Holy Roman Empire and helped steer Europe’s spice trade in the early 16th century to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful financiers in history. He left more than seven tons of gold to his successors — and a good deed.
Much of the Fugger business empire crumbled over the next 150 years, battered by wars and soured credits. But the walled Fuggerei, with its picturesque lanes and seven gates in the heart of this onetime European banking capital, still stands.
As in medieval times, the Fuggerei enclave is locked at night. Residents take turns manning the gatehouse to open up for late stragglers and fine them (between 50 cents and a euro, depending on the hour). via WSJ.com.

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