No, every era has or had its challenges. Knowing all the factors that make a sale easier and more secure is still helpful today.

How much home you would get for your rent
Installments instead of monthly rent payments: An analysis by Focus magazine evaluated all 400 German cities and counties. The study examined how much living space could be purchased with the money currently spent on rent.
To this end, the magazine calculated maximum loan amounts for monthly installments of $500, $750, $1,000, $1,250, $1,500, and $2,000, with 4 percent interest and an initial 2 percent repayment, which currently corresponds to the German average.
The maximum purchase price including ancillary costs was calculated from the maximum loan amount and the buyer's equity contribution was estimated at 20 percent of the purchase price. This is how Focus arrived at the following results.
500 euros monthly repayment
Result: In high-priced urban locations, the property purchased would shrink to the size of a broom closet compared to a rented apartment. This is the case in Munich, for example. With a monthly payment of $500, you would only be able to afford an 11-square-meter apartment.
In the Vogtland district of Saxony, on the other hand, the same payment would finance a 116-square-meter condominium. The examples provided by Focus clearly illustrate the regional differences and show whether owning your own home is more worthwhile than renting and how much square footage you can afford.
Top 7 cities
With a monthly budget of €500, property seekers in the seven German cities of Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Stuttgart need not even start looking. In Munich, as already mentioned, for 11 square meters, and in Cologne for 21 square meters. The other top seven cities fall somewhere in between. But even with a monthly budget of $2,000, you can only afford 46 to 85 square meters in these cities.
Medium-sized cities
In cities such as Salzgitter, Bremerhaven, Gelsenkirchen, and Chemnitz, 500 euros will get you more than 60 square meters. With 1,000 euros, you can get 124 to 134 square meters. Those who have as much as 2,000 euros per month can even afford 249 to 268 square meters here.
Net household income is also a decisive factor in affordability. Banks generally only finance real estate if the buyer contributes one-fifth of the purchase price from their own funds and the installment payments amount to less than one-third of the net household income.
Ask the expert
The Focus analysis also enables real estate sellers to identify what is currently affordable for prospective buyers and how setting the purchase price will affect demand.
An experienced and local quality real estate agent can help prospective buyers find affordable properties. After all, they know best where to find them. In addition, they can inform owners about the current financing limits of property seekers.
Would you like assistance in finding an affordable property and suitable financing? Contact us. We will be happy to advise you and refer you to an independent financial advisor.
Note
For reasons of readability, the generic masculine form is used in this text. Female and other gender identities are expressly included where necessary for the meaning of the text.
Legal notice: This article does not constitute tax or legal advice in individual cases. Please have the facts of your specific case clarified by a lawyer and/or tax advisor.