I see it similarly to some previous posters. I also think this will be a tight squeeze for you. Mainly because I have the feeling that you’re not fully behind it. You want to own a home but aren’t willing to bear all the consequences. The consequences with your income would be that you have to cut back elsewhere. Permanently. For several decades. You have to be willing to do that. And really willing! Someone wrote that owning a home has to be seen as a hobby or something like that. And that’s how I see it too. At least in this income range, where, unfortunately, you don’t belong to the high earners. And I don’t see that in you. Meaning that you are fully behind it and willing to cut back elsewhere to achieve it. Think carefully about whether you really want to build a house now with all the “consequences” or whether it wouldn’t be better for you to put the matter on ice and think about it again in a few years (in the meantime, you can also save something, because equity is really important when building a house!).
20,000€ in one year?
How are we supposed to do that?
We also have to pay rent!
So 20,000€ in one year isn’t possible even if you don’t pay rent!
Just for comparison: I am 27 years old, my husband just turned 30. We are currently building. We earn about the same as you. We started saving for the house a few years before construction began. We currently live “rent-free” or rather pay a reduced rent (300 € per month including utilities!) because the apartment belongs to my parents. We saved about 1,400 - 1,500 € per month over a few years and also put aside some Christmas or vacation bonus (my husband’s, I don’t get either), so we ended up around +/- 18,000/19,000 € per year. That’s not the 20,000 € cited above, but close. But it was only possible because we pay so little “rent.” Depending on how much rent you pay, you can compare. However, we also lived quite well alongside and didn’t turn every cent twice but also didn’t splash out because we always had our goal “house construction” in mind. We ate out often, treated ourselves to the occasional unnecessary gadget, etc... so it’s not as if we had to massively restrict ourselves for this saving performance. But still: After a few years of saving, a not insignificant amount had accumulated. Although alongside that some bigger expenses took from the savings (new car, wedding). We now finance 240,000 €. We pay the rest with equity. Our annuity is now about 4.5 % p.a.. Plus additional costs (maintenance) for the house, we are overall lower than before during the saving phase + “rent.” So we are on the safe side, even if children come (I know that’s not a topic for you) and one income temporarily fails. This way we can still save a bit alongside credit + additional costs, for repairs, new purchases, etc., and if there is anything left over, it goes into special repayments. In addition, we don’t have to restrict ourselves much in everyday life. Our (calculated term) loan will be finished after 30 years. Then we will be just under 60 years old. But since our salaries will rise (contractually guaranteed), realistically we will probably be done even earlier. But that is only possible because we got a good interest rate. We are below 2 % for 20 years. That was only possible because we had enough equity (over 20 %). Also, we are building in a rather inexpensive region (rural), which lowers the house price somewhat. Otherwise, the whole construct, as it is now, would not have worked. The missing equity would have had to be bought dearly through a higher interest rate over the years or would have forced massive compromises on size and equipment of the house. Therefore, I think equity is almost essential when building a house – in your (and our) income regions.