Would buying/building a house ever be affordable for us?

In the East, €1800 is a really good salary.

I would think that you could definitely find something with a nice but modest older property in the surrounding area. We have acquaintances who bought acceptable old buildings each for about €120,000 in the wider area around Regensburg and Leipzig. Of course, some work was done on them, but both were within your budget. If you are willing to accept certain compromises, especially regarding location (in the mentioned cases, we are talking about about 45-60 minutes' drive to the city), it's certainly not a pipe dream. Talk more concretely with the bank. Stay realistic and modest and look at properties. And don’t fool yourselves.

Above all, think carefully about whether you can really live with the location in the long term.

Hello, thank you for your answers.

Why the BAföG is so important now is beyond me, but yes, I have studied once.
My income and that of my boyfriend is given as an average value, I have deliberately set it low, there are some months where it is also a nice bit more. The parental allowance is also an estimate, since I don’t have the notice yet, it is also deliberately stated a little lower than expected.
Simply so that nothing is sugar-coated.

Regarding earnings in the East, I can only say that I don’t earn that badly here, certainly I would get significantly more in the West right now, but we don’t want to leave here anyway, we are happy with what we have.
Also, saving a few more years to accumulate a considerably larger amount of equity doesn’t bother us.
As I said, this is more of a long-term consideration.

I am now also keeping an eye on the forced auctions!

In case you don't know it yet: zvg-Portal (Search for it on Google.) All appointments are posted there.

In case you don't know it yet: zvg-Portal (Just search for it on Google.) All dates are posted there.

Thank you for the tip!

So for the BAföG as a tip, because it concerns me right now and I didn't know: if you repay early in one lump sum, you can get up to a 30% discount depending on the remaining amount. You can apply online for early repayment and then receive the final amount.
For me, it's almost 12,000 euros, so that already saves quite a few thousand..

Regarding the salary: 1800 net I also find not bad for the West, even with a degree. That's around 3000 gross and significantly above the median income in Germany (50% earn less). With minimum wage, it wouldn't even be half. I think that's quite decent, I earn about that much as an academic with almost 2 years of professional experience. I almost used to deburr aquarium lids for half that as a production assistant, so I am more than satisfied.

So, a tip about BAföG, since it also affects me right now and I didn’t know: if you repay early in one lump sum, you can get a discount of up to 30% depending on the remaining amount. You can apply online for early repayment and then receive the exact amount to be paid.
For me, it’s almost 12,000 euros, so that saves a few thousand..

About the salary: I think 1800 net is not bad for the West, even with a degree. That’s about 3000 gross. With minimum wage, it wouldn’t even be half. I think that’s decent, I earn that much too as an academic with almost 2 years of work experience. I almost ended up deburring aquarium lids as a production helper for half that, so I’m more than satisfied.

Thanks for the tip, I’m aware of that. I specifically asked for the exact amount to be named early, then the percentage discount is applied. I would have already paid it off immediately if I weren’t expecting a child. Since I don’t yet know how quickly the money flows during parental leave, I’m holding off a bit. The amount remains the same (would only have to be repaid in 2 years).

About the salary, somehow it seems unusual that people with this salary inquire here when I look at what others receive. But well, the main thing is that you are happy yourself.