Maastricht is indeed a beautiful place. You need to take a look in the stokstraat over there, I will assure you that you'll instantly faint when you see the prices. You're talking about the grachtenhuizen/canalhouses right? Well, in old cities (like Maastricht) you'll find a lot of those, being built around the time of the VOC. But when you leave the city centre you're probably going to see the same houses as you see in Germany. Only a bit more placed together. I live with my parents in a pretty big house but I desperately want to move to some small apartment haha.