Can we ever afford to build a house?

Hello everyone,

our situation is as follows:

he is 34, she is 32 years old, first child is on the way, and it should remain with only one child.
Salary: he currently earns 3300 euros, she 2900 euros. She will then take parental leave but return to work after one year for about 25 hours (care is almost certainly secured through relatives and a very affordable company daycare). She will then have about 1800 euros left per month. From the child's third year at the latest, it is planned to increase her working hours again. Both jobs are quite secure.
Unfortunately, the land prices are extremely high. We now have an offer for a 470 sqm plot including all incidental costs for 240,000 euros, a house including all incidental costs also for 240,000 euros. We plan an additional 20,000 euros buffer, which makes total costs of 500,000. That is a lot. The equity amounts to 180,000 euros. A financing need of 320,000 euros remains. The loan should run for 30 years.
Do you think this is possible? The location is great, at the subway, 15 minutes to downtown, so it can certainly do without a second car.
It is our dream, but I am afraid it might burst.

Thanks for your assessments

Hello emcpd

there is still 5,100€ left, even if the woman works part-time.
With equity of 180,000 euros (you should not use it all for the financing! it is estimated to keep about 30-40k as a buffer if you build without a fixed price)

Please provide more details about the house. 240,000 euros is a bit little if you want a basement. How many sqm? Efficiency standard? Roof shape? Solid construction/wooden cabin? Heating system?
320,000 euros with, as mentioned, 5,100€ income is usually not a problem, unless you live in exaggerated luxury and buy a new car worth 70k every 2 years. It is currently said that for every 100,000 euros there are about 500€ monthly costs. That would be about 1,700 euros... That still leaves 3,400 to live on (That has to be enough?!)

Purely based on the numbers, I don't see a problem there. Income is correct, equity is correct, and the installment would also be manageable with that income.

Only the house price seems a bit low to me. Can you provide a few more key data points?

Have you already taken into account the typical incidental construction costs of 35-40 thousand? These always apply in addition, regardless of the size of the house.

Hello, purely in terms of financing TOP! Feel free to contact multiple banks & brokers

Hello,
I can only agree with the previous speakers.
The financing data looks very good. In addition, here are the questions: What is your current savings rate? What is your current cold rent?
What I cannot assess, however, is how the topic of "parental allowance / support" is regulated in Austria. However, presumably, some time will pass between the land purchase and the completion of construction - by then, the little one will probably have already passed the first 6 months.

Two more points:
- Keep in mind that often a pregnancy does not react well to stress. The planning and construction phase will definitely be an exciting time.
- Have your house price checked - as mentioned above. I also think it is somewhat low.

Thank you for the suggestions. Parental allowance is available for 1 year at 2000 euros, and after that, the career entry is planned again. The house itself is supposed to have only about 110 sqm without a basement.