Housing is too expensive in Germany. Although this is not true everywhere, it is definitely the case in major cities, and economically up-and-coming areas. Tenants are unable to afford a larger flat, despite needing more space, for example when starting a family. And as for home ownership, most people can't even think about it, even though this would be a good form of retirement provision.

In order to enable people to participate in affordable housing, the state does intervene. It provides (subsidised) building plots, builds social housing, regulates rents and can promote the acquisition of property, for example, by offering depreciation allowances. In addition, the state sets a variety of frameworks. Environmental protection and climate neutrality has a direct influence on building regulations, while in order to achieve economic policy goals such as debt reduction it sets limits on promotional loans. Price stability measures mean higher euro interest rates, making housing financing more difficult.

It is therefore not surprising that in a survey, six out of ten private households feel that their housing situation is affected by government measures. However, it is interesting to note that the government's influence on a wide range of factors, from climate change, property price trends, interest rate trends, energy prices and rents, to property supply and market transparency, is only rated moderate at best.

It is sobering that the influence of the state is mainly perceived as unfavourable by the households surveyed. This applies most strongly to energy prices, the availability of skilled labour and the development of property prices. Unfortunately, the available analysis of the study by the Technical University of Darmstadt and the property finance platform Baufi 24 does not explain why this is the case. It could be related to environmental policy (climate neutrality targets), migration policy, or the European Central Bank's interest rate measures.

The survey of around 1,000 private households clearly shows the influence of interest rates on the affordability of a desired property. At an interest rate level of 4%, 96% believe that they can no longer afford their dream home. At interest rates of 1%, the figure was 22%.

However, there now appears to be a „slight“ trend reversal, as revealed by an online survey of more than 1,000 buyers and interested parties conducted by mortgage lender Interhyp in May 2024. More than half of all respondents now rate the affordability of a property in their region as „medium“ or „easy“. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of nine percentage points. Of those who want to buy a property in the next one to two years, 56% consider a property to be „moderately“ to „easily“ affordable – twelve percentage points more than in the previous year.

Almost two-thirds of the approximately 1,000 households surveyed by TU Darmstadt intend to renovate their property in the next five years. State subsidies play a role in this investment decision for around half of the homeowners. Accordingly, they rate the state's influence on the provision of these subsidies, for example, by KfW, as positive. However, this is counteracted by the lack of reliability of these subsidies. For example, KfW stopped four housing and construction funding programmes at the end of 2023 as a result of a federal budget freeze, and stopped accepting applications.

This fits in with the study's finding that the majority of respondents recognise an increasing government influence on their housing situation. However, its effect is meagre. Only a fifth of those surveyed believe that the state's influence helps them actually to achieve the housing situation they want. However, this is put into perspective by the fact that prospective buyers rate the state's influence much more positively than owners. This seems logical because most government measures serve to promote home ownership.

Two out of three respondents assume that the state's influence on their housing situation will increase in the future. This refers to socio-political factors such as wage growth. The affordability of home ownership has decreased in the past because wage growth could not keep pace with rising interest rates and house prices.

The picture is comparatively clear when it comes to the assessment of how the state's influence on people's own housing situation, which is seen as somewhat negative, can be improved. The political authorities at local, state, federal and European Union level should coordinate better. This is because 58% of respondents believe that this coordination has been lacking to date.

Most funding comes from the federal government. However, many federal states also subsidise energy efficiency upgrades, and some local authorities provide additional funding. This jungle of subsidies, which many people find confusing, needs to be cleared up.

It is irritating that citizens consider the EU to have much less influence than the federal, state and local governments. This does not correspond to reality, especially when it comes to environmental legislation.