Back to the original topic:
My parents have been divorced for as long as I can remember. On my father's side, everyone has (at least) a house; on my mother's side, everyone lives in rented apartments. My mother had to move with us several times, partly because landlords claimed personal use, partly because the apartments no longer fit or never really fit. That's why the idea of having a house seemed very good from an early age.
I studied and worked on the side, which all took quite a long time (until I was 29). I had a good life as a student, but big leaps were obviously not possible and saving a lot was not feasible either. That's why I set up savings plans with my first job even before the first paycheck (ETFs for retirement, a building savings contract, fun savings, and "serious" savings) and basically still had as much leftover money monthly to splurge as I did during my studies (because that was enough for going out, hobbies, and food; I financed vacations through fun savings, which I had already done as a student). I moved out of the shared apartment at 30 and moved with my boyfriend into an "adult apartment," which immediately meant another chunk of money flowing into other people's pockets every month.
My boyfriend is currently doing his doctorate and earns enough but not enough to save.
The plan was to "someday" build or buy. Someday has arrived faster than expected (I am now 32) because my dad fought for four building plots on his land (previously green land, and after about 3.5 years and thousands of euros for various plans, etc., it was re-designated as building land by the municipal council + building committee). Each daughter receives one of the building plots as a gift – otherwise, we wouldn't be able to build, especially since the bank would not give us a loan (or at least not in the amount needed for land + house here in the area).
I have learned here that we are also among the well earners, but with rent payments in Munich, there is not much left over. Due to Corona, more can be saved than without it, like for most people, but that doesn't make a huge difference. So, without children, we would definitely be in a situation where saving cannot keep up with price increases.
Our equity is therefore the land; but we are not putting any "real money" of our own in (the building savings contract is nowhere near maturity and with 10K€ it’s not even worth starting). By the time the house is finished, we might have maybe 30K€ in cash together, which is nice as an additional buffer or, if we don’t need it, for furnishing or an early repayment, but the bank couldn't care less (so it doesn’t change our installments or interest rates).
Conclusion: Without the land from my dad, we couldn't build or buy. Possibly a condominium would be possible if we go far enough out, but probably only in about 5 years when the building savings contract is matured. We will then use it for the house when the loan term ends or as an early repayment.