Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

How did they get the new building if the existing house hasn't been sold yet?
We only really made progress with the financing story once we had a notarized contract for the old property.

No, that's not a problem with our house bank and also according to the financing advisor.
The anticipated selling price is financed individually on a variable basis and repaid through the sales proceeds.
We also had an offer for such a construction at the beginning of the year. We would have gotten the new building financing even before the notarized contract for the sale of the existing house.
Whether this is standard is another question. And whether it's wise is certainly another discussion.

Really interesting, some views on salaries here. You feel like you are in the lower class with about €4600 including child benefits (my share of that is only about half despite having a master's degree). For some reason, we were still able to afford an (existing) house. Just in the countryside in Hessen and not in the outskirts of a metropolis. Middle class is relative.

Really interesting, some perspectives on salaries here. It makes you feel like you're in the lower class with around 4600€ including child benefits (my share of that is only about half despite having a master's degree). For some reason, we were still able to afford an (existing) house. Just out in the countryside in Hesse and not in the vicinity of a metropolitan area. Middle class is relative.

You really don’t need to worry about that. I think it’s just distorted here because we’re in the real estate bubble. If in doubt, just google which percentile you are in with your own household net income. With 4.6k you’re still well above average. Before the last job changes, we were around that figure, too, and built a house in Lower Saxony. And that was before I was in this forum; back then I still thought we were “earning loads”. :D :D

We have always had little money; that only changed with university. Therefore, we still know very well what it's like to have to watch every euro carefully. We still have to be careful with money today, but we have some leeway. And I don't want to imagine how people with low incomes might be doing at the moment. They are not worried about rising construction costs, but about whether they can still turn on the heating in winter.

Income estimates are sometimes really wild. My ex is looking for a new place for herself and our kids. She found a nice terraced house - only drawback: with a cold rent of around €1,200, a net income of at least €6,000 is required... Otherwise, you can't afford a house - was the landlord's statement...

You do that at the bank exactly the same way, initial assessment via flat rates. Is it the terraced house from the other day? [..Bin gerade in Gesprächen für ein Reihenhaus mit 167qm, Bj. 2002 mit knapp 9.000 kWh Gas ] - with 167m² and €4 operating costs per month as a flat rate, you're at almost €1,900 - so 30% of €5,600.

With, for example, 3,000 it certainly won’t work, just as an example. I don’t want my tenants to run into ruin because they have to pay half of their net household income for rent plus additional costs. Depending on how the house is insulated, etc., you’re quickly looking at 700€ additional costs. Here it was probably calculated with 800€ additional costs monthly, then rent + additional costs are exactly 30% of the required amount.

Whereas 30% including additional costs is also wishful thinking. In the vast majority of Germany you won’t find anything at that ratio with the 3,600€ average net household income. In my opinion, that’s not a big deal because percentages are not a good benchmark. What matters is that there is still enough left after fixed costs.