Alarming study

Credit hurdles prevent people from dreaming of owning their own home

Can we afford to build a house? Many families face a huge financial challenge when it comes to realizing their dream home.(Bild: stock.adobe.com - Wayhome Studio)

According to a recent study, the desire to own a home is unbroken, but one in eight people do not even apply for financing. The barriers to obtaining a loan appear to be too great.

Lower Austria is considered the land of house builders. According to the most recent survey commissioned by Hypo NÖ, 59 percent of its inhabitants have already fulfilled their dream of owning their own home. However, two thirds of them are convinced that they will no longer be able to afford it today. The increased costs in particular would now present them with major problems.

Statistics show that many prospective buyers are currently experiencing the same situation. "The construction of private houses is declining sharply due to many negative factors," says Ludwig Schleritzko, State Councillor for Finance.

Christoph Haselmayer, Ludwig Schleritzko and Wolfgang Viehauser know that the road to home ownership is a rocky one. But there is support for house builders.(Bild: Josef Bollwein | www.flashface.com)

In addition to higher prices, this also includes stricter financing conditions. The stricter lending criteria imposed by the KIM regulation since 2022 play a major role here. However, three quarters of those surveyed are not even aware of these, but have at least heard that it has been more difficult to obtain a home loan since then. "One in eight people therefore do not even apply for a loan," analyzes study author Christoph Haselmayer from the Institute for Demoscopy and Data Analysis.

Unknown exceptions
What hardly anyone knows is that there are exceptions for banks if, for example, the stricter rules on income or own funds imposed by KIM are not met. "Bank experts know all the hurdles," advises Hypo board member Wolfgang Viehauser on personal advice.