Purchase or construction in Berlin / surrounding areas, realistic?

Beyond the question of appropriate compensation - I would simply use the time and, completely non-binding, have the real estate agents work for the many, previously easily earned money and just take an intensive look at objects that are somehow interesting to you. If they ask, just say you work in the IT industry, as that immediately implies a higher income. ;) This way you already get a good idea of the matter - look at "young used" and old renovation properties. And also have a look at EHF, semi-detached houses, and end-terrace houses. Look for things you absolutely don’t like and things you would very much like to realize in your home. You are not even 30 yet. Keep saving equity, keep working in & on your profession, so that in a few years a few hundred to a thousand euros more per month can come in. That helps. You have the time. In 2, 3, 5 years the world will certainly look completely different again. Currently, there is simply too much (price) movement in the market. And your equity + income is probably too tight for a new build or the complete renovation of a demolition-ready settlement house jwd. Maybe you get lucky early on, and if not, you gain a lot of experience for the properties that will come in the future. If you simply calculate with (today currently probably already cheap) 2500€ per m² and a target size of 120m², you are roughly at 360,000€ with 20% additional construction costs. Then there is a plot of land. I can’t imagine getting one in sought-after metropolitan areas around Berlin with good traffic connections for under 100,000€. So it certainly currently approaches 500,000€. In this respect, I find the statements of the financial advisor very sensible and think that currently an [Einfamilienhaus] is probably not feasible for you. Within a timeframe of 5 years - definitely.

The discussion about and evaluation of the activity and salary, especially of the friend who is not writing but only reading, is explicitly unwelcome. There is no reason to justify or explain any professional decisions in any way. Can we not just respect that?

why? OP asked about the situation. Unfortunately, income is the dealbreaker for the wishes

Absolutely, that may be true in absolute terms, but relatively speaking, starting at 28 is just "learning to walk," or do you think they are already experts after just a few years?

She writes it herself:

well then they just come down to earth... privileges or not, income is important, especially when starting a project like this now

An expert in the industry in Berlin also typically earns from 80 TEUR upwards (not only in corporations).
As mentioned, IT entry-level professionals can easily ask for 40 TEUR in Berlin. And with 3 years of experience, you’re no longer a beginner.
A degree is less important here than in other professions – you don’t need a university degree, you just have to be able to do something.
One thing must also be said, Berlin has only been catching up now (for the last approx. 5 years) what was missing in previous decades due to lack of economic boom. So in comparison to other metropolitan areas, Berlin is still quite far behind.

Also im Metropolenvergleich hingt Berlin noch ganz schön hinterher.

That may be true, but it doesn't help here: someone wants to ride a bicycle to work in Berlin - from Stuttgart, that is clearly out of the question!

That may be so, but it doesn't get us anywhere here: someone wants to cycle to work in Berlin - that is clearly out of the question from Stuttgart!

One could discuss that too :cool: