DE Germany · Housing affordability
How much house can I afford in Germany?
A household in Germany with net income of EURa year, with EURin savings available, can afford ...
Maximum purchase price . German bank affordability test
EUR 200k
Bound by your down payment · EUR 160k mortgage on EUR 40k down
The two rules
Germany has two rules. Both must be met.
There is no single national regulation like the French HCSF or Swiss FINMA formula. But German bank practice converges on two guardrails: a 35% income cap and a 20% equity requirement — both enforced through BaFin's creditworthiness mandate.
35%
Maximum housing cost ratio (Belastungsgrenze)
Total monthly housing costs — mortgage payment (Annuitaet) plus operating costs — should not exceed 35% of net household income. This is bank practice, not hard law, but nearly universal.
costs <= income x 0.35
20%
Expected down payment (Eigenkapital)
Banks expect at least 20% of the purchase price as equity. The Kaufnebenkosten (9-12% for transfer tax, notary, registry, broker) must be paid on top from savings — they are not financeable.
equity >= 0.20 x price
Have a place in mind?
Drop in a price and see where it fails.
Each test is independent: you need to clear both. The 35% income rule limits your monthly payment; the 20% equity rule ensures you have enough cash for the down payment and Kaufnebenkosten.
EUR
1 of 2 tests fail.
35% income rulepass
You have EUR 45k/yrNeed EUR 45k/yr
20% down paymentshort EUR 10k
You have EUR 40kNeed EUR 50k
The lever you can actually pull
Two ceilings. Whichever is lower wins.
With your savings fixed, the price you can afford scales linearly with income — until the down payment rule starts to bind. Above the kink, more salary will not buy you a bigger place; more savings will.
What you can affordIncome limit (5.6× gross)Total down (5× cash + pension)
Your monthly budget
What you would actually pay each month.
Germany uses the actual rate with a small buffer — no Swiss-style 5% stress test. Your monthly payment at 3.5% over 30 years (2% initial Tilgung) is close to what you qualify on and what you pay.
Monthly headroom
133
The stress test charges you 1.1× what you will actually pay. That spread is what you have, in theory, to absorb a rate cycle, or invest, if you would rather.
Where this lands you
Median 3-room apartment, by city.
Your purchase-price ceiling (drawn in cyan) cuts across the price of a typical 3-room apartment (~75m2) in Germany's largest cities. Cities above the line are out of reach without more income or more savings.
Munich
EUR 580k
Frankfurt
EUR 420k
Hamburg
EUR 380k
Stuttgart
EUR 420k
Berlin
EUR 400k
Duesseldorf
EUR 380k
Cologne
EUR 350k
Hanover
EUR 230k
Leipzig
EUR 200k
Dresden
EUR 195k
Within reachOut of reachYour ceiling · EUR 200k
Before you sign
This is probably the largest financial commitment of your life.
A home purchase is not just the price tag. There are significant costs on top that are not included in the affordability test above.
9-12%
Kaufnebenkosten
Grunderwerbsteuer (3.5-6.5% depending on Bundesland), notary fees (~2%), land registry (Grundbuch ~0.5%), and broker commission (Makler 3-7%). These are paid in cash at closing and cannot be financed.
2-4 EUR/m2
Hausgeld + Grundsteuer
Monthly Hausgeld covers Instandhaltungsruecklage (maintenance reserve), building insurance, property management, and shared utilities. Grundsteuer (property tax) is undergoing reform and varies by municipality.
?
Renting might still win
Germany has a strong rental culture and tenant protections (Mietpreisbremse). In Munich and other expensive cities, the rent-vs-buy math often favors renting and investing the difference, especially for stays under 10 years.
None of this means you should not buy. It means you should go in with open eyes. The affordability test tells you what you can do. Whether you should depends on how long you plan to stay, your Eigenkapital, and the local market dynamics.
For scale
What else costs about EUR 200k?
- A BMW M3 Competition, before options · EUR 88k2.27×
- A new VW ID.7 Pro S, fully loaded · EUR 65k3.08×
- A Porsche 911 Carrera (base, before options) · EUR 130k1.54×
- A 2-room Altbau apartment in Leipzig · EUR 150k1.33×
- EUR 800/month invested at 6% real for 20 years (final portfolio value) · EUR 380k0.53×
- A 3-room apartment in Cologne-Ehrenfeld · EUR 290k0.69×
- A detached house (Einfamilienhaus) in a mid-size city like Hanover · EUR 400k0.50×
- A family apartment in Hamburg-Eimsbuettel (90m2) · EUR 450k0.44×
- A renovated Altbau apartment in Berlin-Charlottenburg (100m2) · EUR 550k0.36×
See the full income x down payment matrix
income (down) / savings (right)
EUR 30k
EUR 60k
EUR 100k
EUR 200k
30.000/yr
EUR 150k
savings-bound
EUR 168k
income-bound
EUR 168k
income-bound
EUR 168k
income-bound
50.000/yr
EUR 150k
savings-bound
EUR 279k
income-bound
EUR 279k
income-bound
EUR 279k
income-bound
80.000/yr
EUR 150k
savings-bound
EUR 300k
savings-bound
EUR 447k
income-bound
EUR 447k
income-bound
120.000/yr
EUR 150k
savings-bound
EUR 300k
savings-bound
EUR 500k
savings-bound
EUR 670k
income-bound
180.000/yr
EUR 150k
savings-bound
EUR 300k
savings-bound
EUR 500k
savings-bound
EUR 1M
savings-bound
Net income used. No insurance included.
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Next steps
Tools and guides to get you there.
Mortgage calculatorBuild an amortization schedule with extra payments. See total interest and how fast you pay it off.CalculateSavings goal plannerSet your down-payment target and a deadline. We back-solve the monthly savings rate you need.PlanCompound interestSee how your down-payment savings grow over time. Visualize the difference one extra year makes.ProjectBuying your first homeA step-by-step guide covering down payments, mortgage options, and the true cost of homeownership.Read
Frequently asked
Unlike France (HCSF hard cap) or Switzerland (33% with 5% stress rate), Germany has no single legally mandated affordability formula. However, most banks converge on a practical guideline: total housing costs — monthly mortgage payment (Annuitaet) plus operating costs (Nebenkosten) — should not exceed about 35% of net household income. BaFin's Wohnimmobilienkreditrichtlinie requires banks to conduct a thorough creditworthiness assessment, but the specific ratio is left to bank discretion.
Eigenkapital (equity capital) is your down payment. German banks typically expect 20-30% of the purchase price as Eigenkapital. Crucially, this must cover the purchase price portion only — the Kaufnebenkosten (9-12% for notary, land registry, property transfer tax, and broker fees) must be paid separately from savings and cannot be financed. So for a EUR 300,000 property, you need EUR 60,000-90,000 as down payment plus EUR 27,000-36,000 for Kaufnebenkosten — a total of EUR 87,000-126,000 in liquid assets.
Zinsbindung is the fixed-rate period of your mortgage. In Germany, you do not lock in a rate for the full loan term. Typical Zinsbindung periods are 10, 15, or 20 years. After the Zinsbindung expires, you renegotiate the rate at market conditions — this is called Anschlussfinanzierung. If rates have risen, your monthly payment increases. A 10-year Zinsbindung currently offers the lowest rate (~3.5%), but a 15-year or 20-year lock gives more certainty at a slightly higher rate. After 10 years, you always have the right to terminate early with 6 months notice (BGB §489).
KfW (Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau) is Germany's state development bank. It offers subsidized loans and grants for energy-efficient construction and renovation. The KfW 297/298 program (Klimafreundlicher Neubau) provides low-interest loans up to EUR 150,000 for new energy-efficient homes. The KfW 261/262 (Wohngebaeude-Kredit) offers up to EUR 150,000 with a Tilgungszuschuss (repayment bonus) for deep energy renovations. These loans can significantly reduce your effective interest rate, but they are restricted to qualifying properties and have strict energy-efficiency requirements (Effizienzhaus standards).
Grunderwerbsteuer (property transfer tax) is a state-level tax in Germany. Each Bundesland sets its own rate, currently ranging from 3.5% (Bavaria, Saxony) to 6.5% (Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia). This creates a massive gap in total acquisition costs — buying a EUR 400,000 apartment in Munich costs EUR 14,000 in transfer tax, while the same price in Cologne costs EUR 26,000. Some states have recently considered reductions to improve affordability, but the tax remains a significant cash barrier to homeownership in Germany.
Tilgungsrate is the initial annual repayment rate on your mortgage. German banks require at least 2% (some insist on 3%). A higher Tilgungsrate means faster repayment but higher monthly payments — at 3.5% interest and 2% Tilgung, a EUR 300,000 loan costs EUR 1,375/month; at 3% Tilgung, it costs EUR 1,625/month but you are debt-free 10 years sooner. Sondertilgung is an extra lump-sum payment — most contracts allow 5-10% per year without penalty. Negotiate this upfront: it is the cheapest flexibility you can get in a German mortgage.