Build now or wait until more equity is available?

super young + no equity (20k EUR you can equate with zero) + rather low income (especially for builders still without children) = definitely do not build.

Rent is thrown away money??? Seriously? Then cancel the apartment and live rent-free in the forest. Very quickly you won’t think that rent is thrown away money anymore.

Regards, Steffen

Even though I don’t assume it, the plot of land they could be gifted might be worth more than, for example, your house, so to ignorantly claim no equity is fundamentally WRONG at first!
The thing with rent is, of course, wrongly expressed, because obviously you do get the value of being able to live there.
However, with rent more than 5000.- are gone every year, from which you have nothing left.
They could also first buy a like-new apartment. The money they invest in this apartment they will likely get back at least 80-90% in 5-8 years when selling.

But this only works as long as prices continue to rise (strongly). Otherwise, ancillary purchase costs and depreciation eat up everything. Renting is not necessarily less sensible per se (also economically).

Building is initially the most expensive way to live. There are also secondary costs, for example, that can arise from being immobile. Maybe one day you won’t be able to accept a good job offer because you are tied to the location by the house. Renting is certainly not money wasted.

That only works as long as prices continue to (significantly) rise. Otherwise, purchase incidental costs and depreciation eat up everything. Renting is not necessarily less sensible per se (also economically).

Surely, there may be some cases where the calculation doesn’t add up. However, all investors would go bankrupt if the calculation didn’t work out in most cases. Of course, one must not buy a junk property overpriced or a brand-new first-time occupancy; in the former, you may have to invest so much that you never get it back, and new builds are usually much more expensive than existing properties. However, none of my clients or I myself have bet on this with solid properties in recent years. And if some think they know how interest rates will develop in 10 years, I take the liberty to claim that prices for solid properties will likewise not completely collapse.

Building is initially the most expensive way to live. There are also secondary costs, for example, that can arise from being immobile. Maybe one day you cannot accept a good job offer because you are tied to the location by the house. Renting is certainly not wasted money.

Sure, if you are aiming for a change in your career, it's better to wait. You never really know everything 100% anyway.

We would have equity of 20,000 euros that we could raise, possibly even a building plot (gifted) that we could have, but we are still considering whether we want to move there.

2 incomes + 5 years = 20k. That will be (very) difficult.
I interpret "gifted building plot" or "considering whether we want to move there" either as a mess or in-laws.