It may be that I am completely wrong, but:

Are you sure that the loan amount is viewed per construction project and not per borrower? An average of 248K somehow seems rather low to me....

Yes. When I follow the source ("Dr. Klein") and go to "Press" on their homepage, I find

"The average loan amount for real estate financing stagnates in May – at a record level: As in the previous month, it amounts to just under a quarter of a million euros (248,000 euros). "

as well as

"The externally financed portion of the property value, the loan-to-value ratio, continues to increase gradually and is now just over 84 percent for the first time."

This results in 295K total costs per property (whether new construction or existing, house or condominium), at least for the properties whose financing was mediated by Dr. Klein.

You won’t find builders there who take out a €250,000 loan with a net income of €5,000.

Yes, here
We knew that was possible, we were just uncertain about the option. Or rather, I was. That’s why I registered here and sought input. And as a bonus, interesting topics that have nothing to do with personal financing are always discussed here. That’s why we’re all still here, right?

The reason the total appears relatively low is that every doghouse is taken into account there. If this were done only for single-family houses in new construction, it would certainly be about twice the amount.

Why the total appears relatively low is because every doghouse is taken into account there. If it were done only over single-family houses in new construction, it would certainly be about twice the amount.

But you are the only one making that claim. And let me tell you, there are hardly any "doghouses" out there on the used market... single-family home construction accounts for less than 8% of all real estate transactions.

I find "doghouses" more than harsh. To puff oneself up by contemptuously belittling others due to their apparent (financial) inferiority is, in my eyes, not a fine move; not for nothing is Superbia (pride and arrogance) the first of the seven deadly sins....

My goodness, I didn't address anyone personally and I can't understand why you are bothered by the term. I could also write [Schrottimmo], it doesn't change anything. Maybe you misunderstood something, I just wanted to question the statistics..

Then that fits with my perception, only one should honestly say in the article that the few extreme cases with low income or high financing sums of 0.5 million ++ somewhere reach their limit, while the average (i.e. the infamous 248K) still quite comfortably enjoys the zero interest rate policy.

So we are already pulling the average down.

We are too, by the way, thanks to equity capital. Hence my surprise about the headline "248 = at the limit."

PS. actually quite current: now with Lagarde at the head of the ECB, the zero interest rate policy will continue for quite a while, according to forecasts.