Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

I can only confirm that from our environment. The largest share of the potential inheritance consists of real estate.

And this is exactly where the words cluster risk & supply and demand come into play. The major German cities have reached their peak and are shrinking, as is currently being reported. Book assets have been inflated over the past ten years and can no longer be widely acquired in reality (= by working people). What good is the great, then 90-year-old settlement house if there is no one left who needs it?

The major German cities have reached their peak and are shrinking, as is currently being reported

It's all a matter of immigration and the future acceptance of partial remote work. This can quickly turn back into tense growth.

Everything is a question of immigration and the future acceptance of partial home office. That can quickly turn back into tense growth.

I see it the same way. I do not yet interpret a sustained trend towards shrinking cities from the current Corona-influenced numbers. Corona has simply prohibited almost all the advantages of the city and brought the disadvantages (mostly smaller apartments without a garden) into the spotlight. That will also reverse again.

I also see it rather as wishful thinking, the trend toward settling in metropolitan areas will not be reversed by it. For hundreds of years, cities have been preferred over rural areas. It is not even a question of the workplace, where attendance requirements are already increasing again. It is about much more, such as leisure activities, culture, theater, cinema, events, sports events, and much more. And anyone who tries to find a general practitioner or even a specialist in the countryside will quickly notice the difference (rural doctor shortage). Many other services are also only available where there are many potential customers...... With or without home office, nothing will change about this. But many are already being called back from the home office.... And the price development of real estate in metropolitan areas has continued in only one direction even after 1.5 years of Corona.

I see it the same way. I do not yet interpret a lasting trend towards shrinking cities from the current Corona-influenced figures. Corona simply banned almost all advantages of the city and brought the disadvantages (mostly smaller apartments without a garden) into the spotlight. That will reverse again.

I hope so! The country bumpkins are getting no more housing, thanks to the city dwellers. At least not in holiday areas with approximately good infrastructure... I also don't know how rural exodus is supposed to work if no new housing is built at all because there are only few building plots.

The "2 to 3 times a week commuting" distance to the big city was possibly permanently upgraded by Corona. Small towns that offer everything locally up to high school benefit from this, except for well-paid corporate jobs. Including a part-time job for the wife in the town. The father would be ruined if he commuted 5 times, but with 2 or 3 days per week there is still time for sports or time with the children on the work-from-home days. And many will now consider this, especially with the antisocial prices in the 50-100km radius around Munich. Then better to move 150-200km away from Munich right away, where it becomes affordable again; a small town or village is also 50km from Munich—just twice as expensive.