German houses are not, on average, 1.2 million euro. There are plenty that are, but it really depends on your area. If you are within an hour of Frankfurt then much of that was driven by the influx of companies that had been preparing for brexit.

There are houses for cheaper, but they tend to be in less desirable locations. Same in America, there just happens to be way more “less desirable” places. Lots of land in the 90 minute commute radius.

In my experience Germans tend to outright dismiss options that are less than ideal, always searching for the eierlegende Wollmilchsau.