Is the purchase of an existing property financable?

The thing with the rent... first of all, 1,100 EUR/month over 40 years is not a million.

Do the math, it's even more than a million. It's called the compound interest effect with a 3% annual rent increase. In 40 years, the monthly rent will be over 3,500€. Crazy, right?

Storm damage to the roof? Landlord’s responsibility. Water damage caused by burst pipes or flooding... if necessary, you terminate the lease and find a new rental apartment. What does the homeowner do?

What does he do? He calls his insurance.

I see my house as a luxury that I afford because I can. This is not a provision for old age or anything like that. Renting would definitely have been the cheaper way here.

As long as you save as a tenant, renting is better for you. But since that goes against human nature (people prefer to consume), retirees with property are much better off than renters. It’s just like that (regardless of which statistics, surveys, etc. you look at). Property ownership is forced saving and thus an involuntary old-age provision. Of course, this does not apply to individual cases but to the average.