Do banks even count Elterngeld toward mortgage affordability?

Usually only partially or for a limited period, because Elterngeld is a time-limited benefit. Many banks apply a safety discount for the creditworthiness check, or exclude time-limited benefits entirely. The exact handling varies from bank to bank, so an early, non-binding pre-approval inquiry is worth doing.

Should we plan the house purchase before or after the second child?

Miravel can't decide that for you, that stays your call. What it can show: how your household income, creditworthiness, and buffer each develop under different timing. Some households already have enough equity or headroom that the order barely makes a difference.

What if we choose ElterngeldPlus instead of basic Elterngeld?

ElterngeldPlus pays less per month, but for twice as long, and can be combined with part-time work. That can shrink the income gap at the time of the bank application, because part of the income comes from your own part-time work instead of a time-limited benefit. Whether it's worth it depends on your specific timing.

How much equity does it take to close the gap?

That depends on the purchase price, the interest-rate level, and the remaining rate. As a rough direction: more equity directly lowers the required loan amount and therefore the monthly rate. Miravel works out, with your own numbers, how much additional equity would be needed to hit a particular rate.

Why isn't an ordinary mortgage calculator enough?

A mortgage calculator assumes a fixed income and shows the loan rate that fits it. It knows nothing about parental leave, Elterngeld, or how your income recovers in the years afterward. Miravel connects income, Elterngeld, loan rate, and household buffer into one calculation, across several years and across more than one decision at once.

A second child and buying a house in the same year: does that work?

A child calculator shows you the Elterngeld. A mortgage calculator shows you the loan rate. Neither shows you what happens when the bank looks at your income in exactly the year it drops. Two households, both making both decisions in the same year.

Two life decisions, each one sound on its own. A second child. A place of your own. The problem isn't either decision by itself, it's their timing relative to each other. Anyone on parental leave, or only just back at reduced hours, sees their income dip in exactly the snapshot the bank uses for the mortgage approval.

The figures below are model calculations based on plausible example assumptions (assumed: around 3.5% interest, 2% repayment). Interest rate, purchase price, and income interact differently for every household. The bank rule of thumb for the maximum affordable loan rate is also Miravel's own approximation of common practice, not an official standard: every bank calculates loan affordability differently. Miravel itself works through your own numbers, your income, Elterngeld, Kindergeld (child benefit), and your household buffer, across the years.

Why separate calculators don't cut it here

An Elterngeld calculator answers one question: how much parental allowance will I get? A mortgage calculator answers another: what loan rate can I afford on my income? Both answers are correct on their own. Neither one checks what happens when both events land in the same year: the bank assesses your creditworthiness on the income it sees at the time of the application, not on what you'll be earning again in three years.

That's not an edge case. Family planning and homeownership fall into the same life phase for a lot of couples, for the same reasons: more space, a secure place for the kids, the sense that now is the moment. Which is exactly why it pays to look at both decisions together, not one after the other.

Two couples, the same double decision, different timing

Both couples earn around €5,500 net a month combined, want a second child, and a property for €420,000 with 20 percent equity. The only difference: the order.

Nadine & Paul: child and purchase contract in the same year

Nadine earns €3,400 net, Paul €2,100 net, around €5,500 net combined. They're expecting their second child and want to sign the purchase contract for the property in the same year. Nadine takes 12 months of parental leave, basic Elterngeld, just as she did with the first child.

The situation at the time of the bank application, as Miravel adds up income, Elterngeld, and Kindergeld over time:

Elterngeld: €1,800 (the cap, since Nadine's previous net income was above the threshold)
Paul's income: €2,100
Kindergeld for two children: €518
Monthly income at the time of the bank application: around €4,418, of which most banks count roughly €3,340 as eligible (Elterngeld is usually only counted partially or for a limited period)

Banks typically calculate the maximum loan rate using a household flat rate plus a surcharge per child, along with a safety discount on time-limited payments like Elterngeld. The exact method varies from bank to bank, there's no single standard. By this common rule of thumb, the affordable monthly rate comes to around €1,000 to €1,100. But the desired property, with a loan amount of €336,000 (a €420,000 purchase price minus 20 percent equity), costs around €1,520 a month at an assumed financing rate of about 3.5 percent interest and 2 percent repayment.

The gap: around €450 a month in rate, which at this financing rate works out to roughly €100,000 less loan amount than the purchase price would need. Not because the couple can't afford the house long term. Because the bank is looking in exactly the year the household income is lowest.

Two years later, once Nadine is back working part time or full time, the numbers would look different. For today's bank application, that doesn't count.

Tarek & Meike: purchase contract first, child two years later

Same household income, same purchase price, different order. Tarek and Meike sign the purchase contract before planning the second child. At the time of the bank application, both are still working their usual hours.

Household income at time of bank application: around €4,010 eligible net (no Elterngeld discount, no safety discounts on time-limited benefits)
Affordable loan rate by the common rule of thumb: around €1,230 to €1,330
Loan rate for the desired property: around €1,520
Remaining gap: around €240 a month, considerably smaller than for Nadine and Paul, usually closeable with a bit more equity or a longer fixed-rate period

The second child arrives two years after moving in. By then the loan rate is already fixed, the bank doesn't look at household income again. The couple carries the parental-leave income gap alongside an already-running loan rate, which strains the household buffer more during parental leave than it would for a couple without a property. The difference from Nadine and Paul: this strain arrives after the purchase, not as a hurdle that blocks it.

What this calculation really shows

Looked at over the full ten years, both households end up with a similar overall picture: two children, a home of their own, a dual income that recovers. The difference lies entirely in the timing of the bank application. A mortgage calculator doesn't see this difference, because it only knows a single snapshot of income. An Elterngeld calculator doesn't see it either, because it doesn't know about the property at all.

That doesn't mean one order is inherently right or wrong. Some households already have more equity going into the purchase, an open-ended partner income in the background, or other reasons not to wait two years. It means: whoever simulates both decisions together sees the gap before the bank shows it to them, not only once the application gets rejected.

What can actually be adjusted about the order

When a household notices the bank application falls into an income gap, there are several levers that separate calculators simply don't show, because they don't know the whole picture:

Put the bank application before the start of parental leave begins, even if moving in happens later
Bring more equity to lower the loan rate needed
Choose ElterngeldPlus instead of basic Elterngeld, so income dips less sharply during parental leave
Adjust the fixed-rate period or the repayment rate to lower the monthly payment
Push the purchase back by a year or two, until income has stabilized

Which of these options actually helps depends on the interest-rate level, on the available equity, and on the chosen Elterngeld model. That's not something you can work out in your head, it needs a calculation that models income, Elterngeld, loan rate, and household buffer all at once.

Why the whole picture makes the difference here

Miravel doesn't treat "child" and "house purchase" as two separate scenarios. It simulates your entire household over the years: income, Elterngeld, loan rate, savings, pension points, all together, at every point on the timeline. That's exactly what makes visible what a single calculator structurally cannot see: that two decisions, each sound on their own, can block or support each other depending on their timing.

Your data stays in your browser throughout. Miravel doesn't tell you which order to plan the child and the house purchase in. It shows you what happens with your own numbers, in whichever order you choose.

Frequently asked questions

Miravel simulates your whole household picture, across years and across several decisions at once: income, Elterngeld, loan rate, savings. Not just one decision in isolation. Start now for free.