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Buying or renting: Which form of housing suits you?

24.04.2025 5 min. reading time


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Wolfram Gast

Chief Digital Officer (CDO) | Executive Board

Content of this article


Buying your own property means more than just creating a home - it is also an investment in your own future. Instead of paying monthly rent, which goes permanently to the landlord, the money from the purchase goes towards building up your own wealth. Home ownership can thus offer long-term financial security - be it through rent-free living in old age or through the potential increase in value of the property.

But renting also has advantages: It offers flexibility, a lower initial outlay and can make more sense at certain stages of life.

Our article presents the advantages and disadvantages of the various options and provides guidance to help you make the right choice - taking into account your finances, life situation, market environment and future prospects.

Taschenrechner auf einem Schreibtisch mit Kleingeld

Financial aspects: What is worthwhile in the long term?

The financial aspect is often the decisive factor when deciding for or against one of the two options. If you want to buy a property, you have to be prepared for significantly higher initial outlay than tenants. In addition to the purchase price, there are additional costs such as land transfer tax, notary, estate agent and financing. Reserves for future renovations to your property are also part of a realistic calculation. We explain in detail how high these ancillary costs are and where there is potential for savings in our article "Land transfer tax: exploiting potential savings


About the author

Wolfram Gast is Chief Digital Officer at von Poll Immobilien, one of Europe's leading real estate companies. Since joining the company in spring 2021, he has been consistently driving the digital transformation forward: he introduced an InnovationLab, built an international product