Well, headquarter of my previous employer was in Berlin, and Berlin has become expensive over the last 10 years.
When a colleague of mine moved to Berlin in about 2004, he got one months rent free just for moving in (into a small, not very accurately renovated apartment) and agreeing to be a good guy...
Some years later, when I left the company and had some last business to do in HQ, colleagues told me the prices for apartments in the reasonable areas of Berlin, and I looked at them in disbelief, how much the average rent went up by then...
Not to forget: When the field is a bit more specialized, like embedded systems, salaries are possibly a bit higher that average "ordinary stuff EE", especially when involving software.