Baukindergeld KfW 424 and successor programs for new builds and existing buildings

What is Baukindergeld?

The Baukindergeld was a non-repayable federal grant that was processed via the state development bank KfW under program number 424. Therefore, the terms “Baukindergeld 424”, “KfW 424” or simply “KfW Baukindergeld” are synonymous. The aim of the funding was to make it easier for families and single parents with low and medium incomes to purchase owner-occupied housing for the first time – regardless of whether it was a new build, house purchase, or apartment purchase, and whether it was a prefabricated house or solid construction.

For each child under the age of 18, there was 1,200 euros annually, paid out over ten years. This brought the total funding to up to 12,000 euros per child. Unlike a loan, recipients did not have to repay anything as long as they complied with the funding conditions. The grant followed the tradition of the earlier homeownership allowance, which existed nationwide until the end of 2005, but was specifically tailored to households with children.

The term is occasionally confused with similar subsidies. For context: The old homeownership allowance (1996 to 2005) was open to all owner-occupiers and only included a child allowance as a supplement. The Baukindergeld (2018 to 2023), on the other hand, strictly required at least one minor child. Childless households were not eligible – only the regular KfW housing loans remained for them. In Germany, the Baukindergeld was thus the first purely family-related federal property subsidy; according to the federal government, several hundred thousand families were supported, a large proportion of them buying existing properties in rural areas.

Applications for the Baukindergeld could be submitted starting September 18, 2018. The decisive factor for eligibility was the date of the notarial certification of the purchase contract or the granting of the building permit: both had to be between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2021. The original deadline up to the end of 2020 was extended by three months due to the Corona pandemic. KfW continues to publish details on ongoing commitments on the official program page for Baukindergeld (424).

Is there still Baukindergeld? The status in 2025 and 2026

No, the Baukindergeld can no longer be applied for in 2025 or 2026. The last regular application deadline ended on December 31, 2023 – and even this only applied to households whose purchase contract or building permit originated from the funding period up to March 31, 2021, and who had moved in on time.

Anyone searching for “Baukindergeld 2025”, “Baukindergeld 2026” or a current status today will not find a new edition of the grant, but rather the successor programs described further below.

• A retroactive or subsequent application is excluded. Anyone who missed the deadline can no longer claim the Baukindergeld – not even for purchases from the years 2017, 2018, or 2019.
• For properties purchased or approved from April 2021 onwards, there was never an entitlement, regardless of the number of children and income.
• An extension beyond 2023 has not been politically decided; a “Baukindergeld 2.0” as a grant program does not exist. Instead, the federal government has opted for subsidized interest promotional loans.
• Already approved commitments remain in place: The annual payouts continue for up to ten years, meaning for early applications, until around 2033.

Incidentally, there was never a legal entitlement: The Baukindergeld was only granted within the framework of available budget funds. At times, the funding pot was almost exhausted before the federal government added more funds. Rejections were therefore not only due to missing requirements, but in individual cases also for formal reasons, such as delayed application after moving in.

How high was the Baukindergeld?

The amount of the Baukindergeld was easy to calculate: 1,200 euros per child and year, for ten years. The decisive factor was the number of children under 18 living in the household at the time of application and for whom there was an entitlement to child benefit according to the Income Tax Act (§ 32 EStG). A separate Baukindergeld calculator was hardly necessary – the following table shows the total funding:

Example calculation

A family with two children bought a terraced house in 2019 for 320,000 euros and moved in during the spring of 2020. After submitting the application on time, they received 2,400 euros annually from 2020 onwards, totaling 24,000 euros by 2029. Relative to the purchase price, this corresponded to a relief of around 7.5 percent – money that many families used for special repayments on their construction financing.

Important: Children born after the application was submitted no longer increased the funding. Conversely, the funding amount remained unchanged if a child came of age or moved out during the term.

Requirements for the Baukindergeld

The requirements were regulated uniformly nationwide. Today, they are primarily relevant for existing cases – for instance, if KfW requests evidence as part of the ongoing payouts – and as a benchmark for comparison with the successor programs.

• At least one biological or adopted child under 18 lived in the household at the time of application, with an existing child benefit entitlement. Single parents were also eligible to apply.
• The purchase contract was notarized between 01.01.2018 and 31.03.2021, or the building permit was issued during this period.
• As of the cut-off date of notarization or approval, the property was the household’s only residential property in Germany. Anyone who already owned residential property was excluded – a second property was not eligible for funding.
• The property was used by the owner as their main or sole residence. Pure rental properties and holiday homes were excluded.
• The household income was below the income limit (see below).
• The application was submitted no later than six months after moving in, proven via the registration certificate.

Income limit: gross or net?

Neither – the decisive factor was the taxable household income, as shown in the income tax assessment notice. It is generally significantly lower than the gross income because income-related expenses, special expenses, provident expenses, and tax allowances are deducted.

A household with, for example, 100,000 euros gross income could therefore well be below the limit of 90,000 euros. The average of the taxable income from the second and third calendar years prior to the application was calculated – so for an application in 2021, the notices from 2018 and 2019 counted.

Those who did not have a wage tax certificate but rather income from self-employment also proved their income via tax assessment notices. Without income tax assessment notices for the relevant years, approval was not possible – an application “without a wage tax certificate” did not fail because of the certificate itself, but because of the missing assessment notice.

Application and documents: How the application process worked

The Baukindergeld was applied for exclusively online via the KfW grant portal – not via the house bank. This clearly distinguishes the grant from today’s promotional loans, which are processed through a financing partner. The process in brief:

1. Moving into the funded property and registering with the residents’ registration office.
2. Registration and login in the KfW grant portal, submitting the application within six months of moving in.
3. Identification of the applicant (e.g., via Video-Ident or Postident).
4. Uploading the supporting documents within the deadline set by KfW.
5. Review by KfW, followed by approval and determination of the annual payout date.

The documents required for the Baukindergeld included in particular:

• Income tax assessment notices for the second and third years prior to application for all partners living in the household
• Registration certificate with move-in date for all household members
• Land register extract or priority notice of conveyance as proof of ownership
• Proof of child benefit for each child considered

Depending on the volume of applications, the processing time ranged from a few weeks to several months. KfW continues to answer questions about existing commitments via the grant portal and the contact channels mentioned there; naturally, there is no longer a separate Baukindergeld hotline for new applications.

Payout: When and for how long is Baukindergeld paid?

The payout is made once a year in installments of 1,200 euros per child, starting after approval. The first payout date determines the rhythm: Anyone who received the first installment in March 2021, for example, will receive the following installments at roughly the same time in subsequent years – the 2025 and 2026 payouts thus follow the individual cycle; there are no fixed nationwide payout dates.

Payments are made over a total of ten years, provided the funding conditions are continuously met. Since the last approvals date back to 2023, the final commitments will run until around 2033. If a payout is delayed, it is often due to missing or expired proof – such as when KfW requests a current registration certificate for owner-occupancy. In this case, it’s worth checking the grant portal and submitting the documents promptly.

The Baukindergeld is paid for a maximum of ten years per commitment – the prerequisite is the uninterrupted owner-occupancy of the funded property as the main residence.

Obligations during the term: Repayment, sale, separation, and moving

For the many households that still receive ongoing payouts, the binding rules of the ten-year funding phase are now the most practically important part of the program. Principle: Installments that have already been paid out do not generally have to be repaid if the conditions were met up to that point.

However, if the conditions are no longer met, KfW will stop future payouts. Only those who conceal changes and continue to receive installments improperly risk a genuine reclaim.

Repaying Baukindergeld when selling?

If the funded house is sold, owner-occupancy ends – and with it the claim to all outstanding installments. The sale of the house must be reported to KfW immediately, including a copy of the notarized purchase contract, proof of the transfer of ownership, and a registration certificate showing the move-out date. Installments correctly received until moving out may be kept.

Baukindergeld in case of renting and partial renting

If the entire property is rented out, the funding is cancelled from that point on, as owner-occupancy is a core condition. This is different in the case of partial renting: Renting out individual rooms or a granny flat is harmless as long as the household continues to live in the property as their main residence.

Baukindergeld in case of separation and divorce

In the event of separation or divorce, it depends on who stays in the funded property and remains the owner. If the grant recipient remains in the house with the children and continues to hold an ownership share, the payouts generally continue.

If the applicant moves out or the property is sold as part of the divorce, future installments are cancelled. For parents living apart, an early notification to KfW is highly recommended so that the commitment is neatly adapted to the new situation and there is no threat of repayment due to improperly received installments.

Moving and change of property: Transferring funding to a new property

Moving does not necessarily end the funding. Under certain conditions, KfW allows a change of property, i.e., transferring the Baukindergeld to a new property. Prerequisites include:

• The grant recipient is also a (co-)owner of the new residential property, with a household ownership share of at least 50 percent.
• The new property is used as a main or sole residence.
• The move from the old to the new property is seamless.
• The acquisition or new construction costs exceed the remaining funding.

A child turns 18, moves out, or another child is born

Only the cut-off date of the application counts for the funding amount. If a child turns 18 during the term or moves out, nothing changes – the installments continue unchanged. Conversely, there is no additional grant for another child born after the application was submitted.

Baukindergeld on the tax return

The Baukindergeld is tax-free. It does not count towards taxable income and does not need to be declared on the tax return. However, it also does not reduce the tax burden – it is simply a grant without tax side effects.

Baukindergeld in Bavaria: Baukindergeld Plus and Homeownership Allowance

Bavaria was the only federal state to take a special path:

• The Bavarian Baukindergeld Plus increased the federal grant by 300 euros per child and year, also over ten years – i.e., by up to an additional 3,000 euros per child.
• The Bavarian Homeownership Allowance (Eigenheimzulage) provided a one-time grant of 10,000 euros for the creation of owner-occupied residential property in the Free State, regardless of the number of children.

Both programs were processed via the BayernLabo. In addition to the federal criteria, the prerequisite was a residence or permanent employment in Bavaria for at least one year.

Both subsidies ended on December 31, 2020, and – unlike the federal program – were not extended until March 2021. Applications have since been excluded, even for purchase contracts or building permits from the funding period. For the Baukindergeld in Bavaria, the same applies in 2025 and 2026 as for the federal government: no new applications, but ongoing payouts for existing cases in the usual annual cycle.

Baukindergeld in Hesse, NRW, Lower Saxony, and other federal states

Apart from the special Bavarian path, the Baukindergeld was purely a federal subsidy with identical conditions nationwide. A “Baukindergeld Hesse”, “Baukindergeld NRW”, “Baukindergeld Lower Saxony” or “Baukindergeld Saxony” with their own conditions did not exist – it almost always simply refers to the KfW Program 424, applied for by households in the respective federal state.

The same applies to Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Thuringia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and all other states, as well as for individual cities and regions from Hanover to Görlitz.

What does exist to this day, however, are independent state housing subsidy programs that can be combined with the KfW successor programs – mostly subsidized loans or grants for families with income limits. The points of contact are the state development institutes, for example:

• North Rhine-Westphalia: NRW.BANK (e.g., state homeownership promotion)
• Hesse: WIBank (Hessen Loan for Families)
• Lower Saxony: NBank
• Saxony: Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB), e.g., with the Family Living program
• Bavaria: BayernLabo with low-interest housing promotion loans

In addition, there are municipal programs from individual cities and counties, such as discounted building land for families. It is worth taking a look at the websites of your municipality and your state development institute before making any financing decisions.

Baukindergeld successors: These KfW programs exist today

As successors to the Baukindergeld, the federal government has not launched any new grants, but rather subsidized interest promotional loans. They are aimed at the same group – families and single parents with minor children and limited income – but function fundamentally differently: Instead of an annual bank transfer, the interest burden of the construction financing is reduced.

Applications are not submitted via the grant portal, but prior to concluding the purchase or construction contract through a financing partner (bank, savings bank, broker). Two programs are the focus; for both, there is an income limit of 90,000 euros in taxable household income for one child, plus 10,000 euros for each additional child.

KfW 300 “Homeownership for Families” (New Build)

Program 300 supports the construction or initial purchase of a climate-friendly new build (Efficiency House 40) for owner-occupancy with a subsidized interest loan of up to 270,000 euros – depending on the number of children and sustainability standard (QNG seal). The effective interest rates are well below market levels.

Prerequisites include that the household does not own residential property and – important for former recipients – that no Baukindergeld was previously claimed. You can read details about this in our separate article on the Homeownership for Families program.

KfW 308 “Young Buys Old” (Existing Buildings)

Since September 2024, Program 308 has been funding the purchase of existing properties in need of renovation in the worst energy classes (Energy Performance Certificate F, G, or H). In return, buyers commit to upgrading the building energetically to an Efficiency House level within four and a half years; the renovation itself can be subsidized via further programs under the Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings.

The conditions were recently improved several times, and as of August 3, 2026, the maximum funding amounts will rise again. The decisive document is the official KfW fact sheet for Loan 308. A separate, detailed article on this will follow.

Further Alternatives

Families above the income limits or buyers of already renovated existing properties can switch to the general KfW Homeownership Program 124 (up to 100,000 euros loan, without income and child-related restrictions) as well as to the state housing subsidies.

The framework conditions for new build and ownership funding are set by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building via funding guidelines.

Comparison: Baukindergeld and successor programs

Example calculation: What is the benefit of the interest advantage compared to the grant?

A family with two children finances an eligible new build in 2026. In the KfW 300 program, they receive a promotional loan of 200,000 euros at an exemplary 1.2 percent effective interest rate with a ten-year fixed interest period; comparable bank financing costs 3.7 percent.

The interest difference of 2.5 percentage points saves around 5,000 euros in interest in the first year. Since the remaining debt decreases through repayment, the advantage adds up over ten years – depending on the repayment rate – to roughly 40,000 to 45,000 euros. This exceeds the 24,000 euros that the same family would once have received as Baukindergeld.

The flip side: The advantage requires a correspondingly high loan requirement, the strict new build standards, and compliance with the income limit – and after the fixed interest period expires, follow-up financing at market conditions is necessary.

Frequently asked questions about Baukindergeld

Could you apply for Baukindergeld for an unborn child?

No. Only children who were already born at the time of the application and living in the household were funded. Those who were pregnant could delay the application – within the six-month period after moving in – until after the birth in order to still include the child. Children born after the application was submitted no longer increased the funding.

Did the Baukindergeld also apply to prefabricated houses, extensions, and conversions?

A prefabricated house was fully eligible for funding as a new build; the construction method did not matter. Pure extensions, conversions, or modernizations of a property already owned were not eligible. Funding could only be considered if a new, self-contained residential unit was created for the first time through conversion or extension.

Did the Baukindergeld count as equity?

No. Since the application was only possible after moving in, the grant was not yet fixed when the construction financing was concluded and was not recognized as equity by banks. Instead, many families used the annual installments for special repayments – economically a similar effect, just delayed.

Could you get Baukindergeld despite a KfW loan?

Yes. The Baukindergeld could be combined with KfW promotional loans such as the Homeownership Program 124 or energy efficiency loans. With today’s successor programs, it’s the other way around: Anyone who has received Baukindergeld is excluded from the family loans 300 and 308.

Who got Baukindergeld – single parents too?

In addition to couples, single parents were expressly eligible to apply, provided the child lived in the funded household and the child benefit entitlement lay with the applicant. In the case of separated parents, only the parent in whose household the child was registered and who received child benefit could receive the grant. The applicant also had to be at least a 50 percent (co-)owner of the property.

Can I change the bank details for ongoing payouts?

Yes. You inform KfW of any account changes via the grant portal; the next annual installment will then be transferred to the new account. The payout is always made directly to the grant recipient personally, not to the financing bank – there is no direct offsetting against the construction loan.

What happens if KfW requests evidence and I don’t respond?

During the term, KfW conducts random checks on owner-occupancy. If requested documents, such as a registration certificate, are not submitted on time, the payout can be suspended and the commitment revoked. Therefore, respond promptly via the grant portal.

Will the Baukindergeld return?

A new edition is currently not planned. Current funding policy relies on subsidized interest loans with energy requirements rather than flat-rate grants. Anyone building or buying today should therefore plan their financing around the KfW 300 or KfW 308 programs as well as the housing subsidies of their own federal state.