Home financing ever possible? Probably not!

You are two engineers, just build the house yourselves? It doesn't have to be 300-350m2 living space, 150m2 + carport should definitely be enough. Doing it yourselves will also save you the stress with language barriers and shoddy work from lazy migrants. What a troll thread, I stopped reading after page 2. Good luck anyway

Let's assume 100,000 equity + 400,000 financing.

20 years at 3.5% and 2.5% repayment.

Monthly burden: 2000.-

With 5,200 net after inflation, not much is left.

Remaining debt after 20 years approx. 200,000.-

And whether 500,000.- is enough for the house + incidental costs and land is highly questionable.

The fact is, as of now, I myself would have a gut feeling against building/financing.

When I enter this into a calculator, it shows a remaining debt of 110k.

I rather don’t believe that. Sure, everyone complains about current prices, heating costs, inflation, and so on, but no one heats less, rides their bike more, or restricts themselves in any other way. I just don’t see that in my environment.

Instead, I actually have quite a few families actively planning for ownership. Especially families with more than two children in my circle of friends find the three- or four-room apartment simply too small now. Renting something bigger is not possible here.

So everyone lives in their own bubble...

Honestly, I don’t experience that in my surroundings, since some have built with a lot of EL and others with a thick financial cushion. So this has nothing to do with a bubble in this case.
And the question about the alternative is a smaller apartment in a worse location. Of course, the apartment is mostly cheaper then.

A good friend of mine is a civil servant at the customs office (higher service). She has already received offers from many large companies (70k+ gross). She (still) doesn't change because she feels obligated :D

And surely because it is worthwhile – A13, married, level 4 is over €4000 net. From €70,000 per year as an employee, you are left with €3500 per month. The still owed private health insurance of the civil servant balances out, in my opinion, the necessary additional retirement provision and supplementary insurances (dental, disability, daily sickness benefits, ...) that employees need from their net income.

The salary therefore must go towards around €80,000 to roughly keep up with a simple teacher (A13) – the latter can be active anywhere for this income, while employees have to go to corporations or hidden champions among medium-sized companies AND usually also need to have some special skills. The average academic certainly does not fall within this range.

Putting all side discussions aside, back to the core: Can you afford a home with a net income of 5200?

We have about that much (regular income, but it can be more due to bonuses, which are 100% dependent on target achievement, so no Christmas bonus or [..]
So it works with a 5k EUR income already - if you want to and are not looking to buy in Munich.

You are speaking here from your survivor bias. In the last 2-3 years, prices were already so high that the step over an "intermediate property" would no longer have worked. Your luck was the timing, favorable prices for the apartment, and still low interest rates and construction prices, no more. Those who are now at the respective age or life phase are out of luck.

Currently, the situation is simply completely different. And suddenly the sponsored articles no longer say: "Real estate today much cheaper to purchase than X years ago," but rather - "5200€ household income required for a 90m² condominium in every second big city."

Ultimately, this is only temporary as well - new construction is collapsing, and buying existing properties only works through price reductions. So things are heading downward to a new level that corresponds to the increased interest and energy costs. Unfortunately, the real estate market is sluggish, which is why some inheritance communities believe that grandma's little house will surely still find a buyer at 2021 prices if they just wait long enough. The realization takes 1-2 years, during which the house waits unheated for its end.

You are now telling this from your survivor bias. In the last 2-3 years, prices were already so high that the step over an "intermediate property" would no longer have worked. Your luck was the timing, low prices for the apartment, and still low interest rates and prices for construction, no more. Those who are now at the corresponding age or life phase are out of luck.

No. These fortunate coincidences were also had by the OP with regard to low interest rates and at least in the last 5 years prices not yet completely exploded. They enabled me to achieve much more than the OP’s claim: - 2 properties - without equity (okay, for the house construction I could mortgage the apartment – but no saved cash) - in Berlin

Ultimately, however, this is only temporary – new constructions are crashing, and buying existing properties only works through price reductions now. So it is going down to a new level that corresponds to the increased interest and energy costs. The real estate market is unfortunately sluggish, so some inheritance communities believe that grandma’s little house will definitely still find a buyer at 2021 prices if you just wait long enough. The realization takes 1-2 years, during which the house waits unheated for its end.

I agree with that. In the end, it’s about the fact that here people are complaining on an unbelievably high level. 5200 EUR net without children is not a shortage. That is top 12%. And of course, you can finance a home with that.