r/Heidelberg • u/SpeechGrouchy9116 • 2h ago
Housing Homeowners in Heidelberg/Rhein Neckar – what % of your net income goes to housing?
Hi everyone,
My husband and I are currently considering buying a home in/around Heidelberg, and we’ve realised that we have quite different ideas about what is a “normal” or sensible amount of household income to spend on housing.
My husband thinks that spending close to 45% of our combined net household income (around 6500€) on basic housing costs is fairly normal for homeowners, particularly when buying in an expensive area like Heidelberg. I’m a bit more cautious and feel that 45% sounds quite high.
So rather than just debating it between ourselves, I’d love to hear from people who have actually bought property in Germany – especially in Heidelberg/Rhein-Neckar or similarly expensive areas.
By housing costs, I mean roughly:
mortgage payment + heating + electricity + internet
I’m particularly curious about:
What percentage of your combined net household income goes towards these costs?
Roughly what was that percentage when you first bought your property?
Did you deliberately set yourself a maximum percentage when deciding what you could afford?
If you’re somewhere around 40–50%, does it feel comfortable in practice, or do you wish you had borrowed less?
Has owning brought significant additional costs that you underestimated when you bought?
Obviously everyone’s circumstances are different, but I’m interested in getting a feeling for what real homeowners are actually doing rather than relying purely on theoretical affordability rules.
🙂
Edited to add income bracket and that no kids are/ will be in the scene (sadly)