Buying a house under 40? Under what conditions ownership is possible

More affordable again

Is residential ownership of less than 40 feasible?

Many young people dream of their own house or their own apartment. They are also ready for restrictions.

More than half of the younger Germans are willing to personally restrict themselves for the purchase of a property and to rethink ideal ideas. This is the result of a representative survey on behalf of the BHW Bausparkasse, for which the market research company YouGov asked 2,063 participants under the age of 40.

Every second between 18 and 39 saves for residential property. 80 percent of the respondents are ready for restrictions to be able to afford a property. 33 percent would reduce your personal expenses for travel, car purchase or hobbies.

The young buyers are also ready to compromise with the property itself: around a quarter of them would accept a smaller property or buy an old building, in which a renovation or modernization would initially be due. Since September 2024, KfW has been rewarding such a commitment to the “Jung buys old”. Read here how high your income can be.

63 percent of 18- to 39-year-old potential owners also expect support from the family. Most often, the respondents expect their relatives to tackle walls, tiles or painting work with (22 percent). A donation or inheritance and an interest -free or cheap loan from the family hope for 18 percent each.

“The starting conditions for real estate purchase are very different for young people,” says Dietmar König, spokesman for the board of the BHW Bausparkasse. “But if you consistently work towards your own property and stay flexible, you can significantly improve your chances.” State funding programs such as the housing premium help with the formation of equity and thus facilitate the way to your own property. “These money gifts should not miss young people,” said König.

The development on the real estate market itself is also optimistic. As the employer -related institute of the German Economy (IW) reports in Cologne, your own four walls are more affordable today than two years ago. The purchase prices stagnate.

The reason: households have more money in their wallets, including through the successful tariff degrees. At the same time, interest rates fall slightly again, which simplifies financing. According to the IW living index for the first quarter of 2025, the affordability is a little worse than in 2022, which hesitated potential buyers in part or ask the steps out or ask rental apartments, which puts the rental market under pressure and let the rents shoot up.

A family currently has to spend around 40 percent of their income per month for a home. At the beginning of 2018, a family had to spend less than 30 percent of the monthly household income for their own home. However, there will be no return to this level in the medium term, according to the IW economists.