World politics in turbulence, the German economy probably in recession - but as far as their own finances are concerned, Germans are still satisfied. This is the result of a new survey commissioned by the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV). According to estimates, 43 percent of respondents their situation as "good" or "very good", only 18 percent answered with "bad" or "rather bad.
For the survey "Property Barometer 2019: The Germans and their money", the pollster Kantar Added Value interviewed 1000 people by phone and 4806 people online from May to June of this year.
Accordingly, the share of positive answers to the question of personal finances since the first survey of this kind has more than doubled in 2005 and has increased significantly in the last three years. But this review is to be used with caution because of a methodical conversion: the results from the past few years, which had only been collected by telephone, were converted on the basis of the new online survey values in order to make them comparable.
Interesting findings are another innovation: The researchers have this year for the first time broken down into housing, four categories "downtown", "suburb", "rural, but near the city" and "rural, far from the city".
While in the urban or residential areas all respondents were similarly satisfied with the personal financial situation, it looks clearly different in the country: only 31 percent assessed their own situation as "good" or "very good". Almost one in four sees their finances as "rather bad" or "bad".
The question of the financial situation also reveals a small west-east divide: the states of Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have the lowest proportion of "good" or "very good" answers, each with 38 Percent - ie 5 percentage points below the national average.
Thus, the survey provides new food for discussion about equal living conditions between East and West as well as between city and country. In many rural regions, especially in eastern Germany, a part of the people sees themselves as being dependent. Whether this is above all a feeling or whether they are really materially worse off is often difficult to answer.
More and more people want a property
Another German trend seems to continue: the real estate boom. Among the respondents aged between 20 and 50, nearly one in three (31 percent) plans to purchase a property. The share is thus once again slightly higher than last year. In the group of 20 to 29 year olds now every second respondent indicates that they want to buy a property.
The number of people who want to buy an apartment or a house would probably be even greater if the costs had not increased so much in recent years.
The pollsters have in the relevant target group of the 20- to 50-year-olds all those who do not plan to buy real estate, asked why. About half said they did not have enough equity. Another 22 percent already had a self-used property, only 14 percent said that property prices are currently too high.
The figures show that capital requirements are currently the biggest obstacle to real estate acquisition. According to the rule of thumb, home or apartment buyers should be able to pay about 20 percent of the purchase price themselves, and the remaining 80 percent can borrow via a loan.
In the course of the property boom of the past ten years, purchase prices have risen dramatically - in some major cities by more than 100 percent. At the same time, however, interest rates on real estate loans have fallen significantly, they are now under one percent. This makes up for the purchase price increase in good parts, so the monthly loan installments are still affordable for many interested parties. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to raise the required share of equity, because it is steadily growing with rising purchase prices.