Affordable homeownership: Buy or pre-fabricated house?

Why do you actually "have" to pay for a car in cash? Who can do that anyway... I absolutely see no problem with fully financing the car. It doesn't have to be a 30k euro ride. We've always done it that way so far (always = twice, we haven't had more cars in our lives). And the banks haven't complained about it so far.
Not having a large amount of equity itself I also don't find problematic if the income situation fits and the banks give their OK. But the incidental purchase costs should be paid from equity, simply because otherwise the entire loan becomes more expensive.

For me, a car is a consumer good and I would never finance such things. If a 30k one isn't feasible, then it will just be a cheaper used one, the main thing is that it's paid for. That's just my attitude.

My house construction has now fallen through, but without 20% equity I wouldn't have even considered it.

I have absolutely no problem financing my car! But I have to be aware that a car - financed or saved up for - costs X euros monthly to acquire. In the past and also in the future. So if I used my savings earlier for car and vacations and want to put them into the house in the future, I have to ask myself where vacations and the car will suddenly come from!

Something like this must definitely be included in the monthly costs. And it's not an excuse for "what did you do with all the money in the past?".

I see it similarly to hemali

But honestly, I often don’t understand why a house (construction) financing with (almost) no equity is viewed so negatively here. For example, we both studied and have only just started our proper working lives in our late 20s, and we’ve also paid back BAföG, and a car is also necessary. So where is a lot of equity supposed to come from, unless inherited or something like that?
But why shouldn’t we buy/build a house because of that if the monthly income is good enough? Saving for years to then have a lot of equity, but at the same time having higher interest rates and still paying rent for so long, etc., doesn’t really help either.

I think so too. We both studied and had 2 children during our studies. Since we both always worked, we were able to save up equity, but not huge amounts. In the end, it was enough for the incidental purchase costs and a bit more, so that we could buy a house shortly after finishing our studies. But of course, it was a full financing - only if we had saved and waited longer, we would have ended up paying much more for the house and a lot more in interest. In the case of the OP and his wife, however, the equity probably wouldn't even cover the incidental purchase costs, although they have been earning for several years and not badly at that. Added to that is the desire for a 700€ installment. So of course there isn’t much room. In an area with low prices, in my opinion, they can definitely buy an affordable little house. They still need a bit more equity... but theoretically, with that income, it should be saved up quickly.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

We also had little equity. At first, we earned little, then there was a wedding, children. Then, for 1.5 years, we first checked how much money we could actually set aside. When we managed to scrape together [25,000] and knew that our financial situation would likely improve rather than worsen, we took the plunge. Although, thanks to meticulous financial planning, I already knew beforehand that it would work out. But many just don't have a 100% clear view of where the money is going...

More equity capital contributed means significantly higher security for both the builder and the bank. I would not take full financing lightly. As long as everything goes well health-wise, professionally, and privately, everything is fine, but in case of unexpected turbulence, things can quickly go wrong. If the property has to be sold prematurely, there is a very high risk of ending up without a house but with debts. Keyword [Vorfälligkeitsentschädigung].