How does everyone afford a house?

I have picked out two current real estate offers here that would be within our desired radius:

1. Semi-detached house for 260,000 euros - 145 sqm living space - 524 sqm plot - built in 1977 - oil central heating from 2000 - wooden insulated glass windows

2. Multi-family house with 3 apartments for 259,000 euros - 220 sqm living space - 600 sqm plot - built in 1997 - oil central heating - insulated glass windows - solar thermal system from 2009 - roof insulation from 2008

Neither is really optimal (the first just not perfect and the second too big) but this overview actually made me hopeful that we can keep searching for a few more years and find the perfect bargain

@Schnucklinie,

You can/should in my opinion just lean back and relax,

Excuse me, what?! In my opinion, legal expenses insurance is one of the most important insurances you can have. Without it, we have already been in quite a bind several times. Especially when starting to build a house, you simply cannot do without legal expenses insurance. The same goes for supplementary dental insurance. It's worth it just for the annual dental cleaning.

Nowadays there are mainly only 2 options: a fixer-upper with renovation costs in the range of a new build, or selling prices beyond good and evil.

Conversations with engineers are always funny.

Maybe this is an option for you as well – first buy a nice (and sufficiently large) condominium and then dare to make the jump to your own house within 10 years.

Additional costs 300 Euro
Food/Hygiene/Children’s items 450 Euro (112/week)
Office catering 110 Euro (22 x 5 Euro)
Kindergarten 100 Euro
Mobile phone/Internet 100 Euro
Refueling 200 Euro (2 cars)
Car tax 20 Euro (2 cars)
Car insurance 150 Euro (2 cars)
Liability insurance 5 Euro
Legal expenses insurance 25 Euro
Household contents insurance 15 Euro
Building insurance 10 Euro
Life insurance 10 Euro
Occupational disability 70 Euro
Supplementary dental insurance 40 Euro
Leisure/clothing/music lessons/sports etc 400 Euro
Savings 200 Euro
Vacation 200 Euro (2 adults, 1 child)

[*]I also immediately noticed that you have quite a few insurances. Just a remark from me: Insurance usually does not pay off financially; it only covers a risk. It can’t be different because from the contributions the salaries of many employees (including managers), premises, commissions, advertising, etc., have to be paid. That’s why we save half of that alone and live correspondingly more risky.

[*]The leisure category is also conspicuously large. We (2 adults + child) come to 100 €, which is 3600 € less per year
[*]What I think is missing are additional car costs. Besides workshop costs, depreciation must especially be taken into account. Even with two small cars, these are already significant amounts. If you "save" the depreciation monthly on a separate account, you first see how expensive such a car really is.