Buy now or wait a little longer?

... to follow the housing needs of the young family and especially their children: getting out of the fear of rent increases and possibly also the situation of being a kind of "foreign body" as a young family in an otherwise "Adult only" (or even explicitly "childless retirees") residential area. Children want privacy even from their siblings, for which bricks and parquet as "attractive features" rank very low with them. And what they absolutely don’t like is "waiting until they are eleven," because that feels unimaginably long to seven-year-olds.

With us, it's exactly the opposite. We live in a "Kids only" residential quarter with a large yard including a playground and more. Dinner is eaten in a large group of kids then each time at some family’s place and after dinner they go back to their own family. The children obviously love living here wall to wall with their best friends. We are all friends here and naturally also tolerant of noise. The children therefore do not want to move at all. However, they also cannot yet imagine that they might at some point no longer want to sleep in the same bed / at some point need their own room. Just as little as they can imagine that their parents will at some point no longer be their heroes. We would just like to prevent the lack of space early on, which is slowly bothering us parents. By staying in this area, we can continue to enable close contact with these friends. Moreover, it simply makes no sense for us to move farther out. At the moment, we can always rely on the childcare network of our family, who live only a few meters away. Here we also always have access to a car. In addition, my husband has a more specialized job with many different subsidies and such, which he would otherwise not receive. There is no home office there, though. The commuting time, for example out to Panketal, is also not to be underestimated for both of us. Apart from our square meters, we really live very well and therefore have rather high demands and above all relaxed attitudes when looking for a house.

I had mentioned an ongoing project with apparently still free terraced houses in Heinersdorf at an affordable price, which was not addressed at all; I suspect there is no interest in it. It must probably be a detached single-family house (EFH).

Thank you very much. I had overlooked that. No, they have nothing left. I asked there 2-3 weeks ago. Thank you very much for the tip.

Additionally to my above post. Therefore, the idea of purchasing the plot is very suitable for us. It will probably be harder to find a suitable plot than a house builder. So we can calmly complete Part 1 and then build at the appropriate time.

Relaxation is good, but it won't solve your problem...
What you describe makes your area a very popular place for families and that drives up the prices.
Let's say a square meter of land currently costs 1,000 EUR where you are. Do you then hope to get a bargain for 300?
Who would be foolish enough to sell it to you at that price? And who would be foolish enough not to simply place a higher bid until it goes back up to 800, 900?

It’s a bit like an old teenage love you regret all your life, not building anything of your own because you always hope she might finally get divorced and come back.

If I were you, I would come to terms with the thought that either it stays your neighborhood, but then in a tight space... whether rental, condominium or townhouse.
Or you move further out and then have space there for a single-family house that you can afford.

I’m not from Berlin and don’t know Pankow. But I imagine it’s roughly like Hannover List or Vahrenwald. These are (highly) dense residential areas, there are no single-family houses... and if there are, they’re unaffordable because space simply weighs as much as gold.

Oh, and don’t worry about the children. They make friends quickly at that age again, at the latest when switching from [Krippe-KiTa], [KiTa-Grundschule], and [Grundschule-Sekundarstufe], it all mixes up more or less completely anyway...

Relaxation is good, but it won't solve your problem...
What you describe makes your area a very popular place for families and that drives up the prices.
Let's say 1 m² of land currently costs 1,000 EUR in your area. Do you then hope to get a bargain for 300?
Who would be foolish enough to sell it to you at that price? And who would be foolish enough not to simply place a higher bid until the price is again around 800 or 900?

It's a bit like an old youth love you mourn all your life, not building anything of your own because you always hope she might finally get divorced and come back.

If I were you, I would come to terms with the thought that either it remains your neighborhood, but then in a confined space... no matter if rent, condominium or townhouse.
Or you move further out and then have room for a detached house that you can afford.

I'm not from Berlin and don't know Pankow. But I imagine it roughly like Hannover List or Vahrenwald. These are (highly) dense residential areas, there are hardly any detached houses... and if there are, they are unaffordable because space is simply weighed like gold.

No, that's not comparable. Where we live is not Berlin-Mitte. It's rather on the edge and you are 2-3 km into Brandenburg. We also live surrounded by detached house settlements (BORIS 500-700€ upwards). Here, in our immediate vicinity (1-2 km each), there are simply many plots with huts whose owners gradually sell them at prices of 4-500€ minus demolition costs (building land can be developed according to §34BauGB). The standard land value has remained stable to slightly decreased there over the last 3 years.
1,000€ and upwards is then towards the south (that is Alt-Pankow or the city center). But that is actually not an option for us.
So no, we are not looking for a bargain. We are simply following Barthel's tips and going on the search. I will gladly give a status update when we have found something suitable :)

I find that exciting and it sounds very lovely how you live. Understandable that you then do not want to change your criteria. Here in Hamburg, there are new terraced houses for about 1,000,000 euros. We could not have afforded that. Plots with existing buildings to be demolished in good but not top neighborhoods for 750,000 euros. I hope it’s different for you and you find your single-family home [EFH]. In the family, someone (before the turn of the millennium) with a young family, after years of searching in and around Cologne, bought a Gründerzeit condominium on the 5th floor without an elevator near the Cologne Cathedral. They have been very happy there until today. In the countryside, one can also be unhappy. The mentality is special and yet similar everywhere. And you have to be able to handle that or hope for gentrification through real estate price flight ;-) All the best again!