‘Base on which can build’ (a foundation to build on) was the slogan of one of the most popular savings banks in Hungary in the 1990s. With the change of regime in Hungary, the affordable public rental housing system was almost completely dismantled. The old rental apartments were sold off at below cost, giving private property to large numbers of people and contributing to an already strong desire for ownership in Hungary. However, with property prices plummeting in recent years, the desire to own a home seems increasingly out of reach, especially for the young adult generation. Alongside the rise in the world’s major cities, a radical change in domestic house-buying strategies has also contributed to this. Whereas the state used to provide a housing savings subsidy to encourage self-care, it has now abolished this and provides it in the form of a family allowance. However, the new subsidy system actually benefits only the market players (construction companies and lending banks) and pushes up house prices. In my work, I reflect on how impossible it is today to buy a home on your own, especially in a growing city like Budapest. To illustrate the situation, I have selected an average Budapest apartment for sale from a real estate advertising portal and compared its price with the expected return on my own savings account. To get a sense of the proportions, I reduced the floor plan of my chosen apartment and then calculated how many building blocks I would need to build it to scale. I then multiplied the square meters by the price of the apartment and calculated how many building blocks my own savings would be equivalent to.