Overview

• Recent Bundesbank data show 55–64-year-olds hold the highest median net wealth at €250,000 with 91 percent of the richest households owning residential property.
• An affordability index from IW and Interhyp details a sharp decline in homebuying capacity since 2019, especially in metropolitan areas and southwest Germany.
• A summer survey by the Verband der Privaten Bausparkassen finds just 33 percent of Germans now save for homeownership, down ten points from last year.
• Christian König, chief executive of the Bausparkassen association, calls the retreat from property saving a “societal alarm signal” as many believe homeownership is no longer realistic.
• Analysts note that excluding statutory pension entitlements exaggerates measured wealth inequality but say that significant generational and regional disparities would persist even if pensions were included.