Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

According to Interhyp, interest rates for 15 years are now at 4%!!! :eek: At the latest now, the middle class can say goodbye to new construction (unless they have a big inheritance in the bank) Also interesting: I like to follow Immobilienscout (houses). Last year about 50 offers within a 10km radius, today 308! People who have to do a follow-up financing in the next 2 years are probably sleeping restlessly...

Nobody is sleeping restlessly. People were sure when they took out the financing that they had made the right decision and like risk. Even in these times, there are enough people who can afford home ownership. In our town (5,500 inhabitants in Western Bavaria), a new residential park is currently being built. Condominiums cost just under 5,000 euros per m2. Three years ago there were new build apartments from the developer for 3,000 euros here. And still people will buy these apartments.

To be quite honest: Car sharing doesn’t work like the candy machine at the outdoor pool. Here there is a booking portal through which you can book/reserve a vehicle in advance. You don’t just go there on a whim and then check on site at the parking lot whether there actually is a car. I assume that I can book a car several days in advance.

But that is also part of the problem. You have to plan sufficiently in advance and then be there at the appointed times. And if people don’t return cars to the same place, it can also happen that your car is not there because the previous renter’s child suddenly got sick and they don’t go to work. Apart from the issue that the fleet is always concentrated in different places depending on the time of day. The providers put a lot of effort into roughly redistributing them within the area, not just in car sharing but especially with scooters and rental bikes.

Example: almost every household has its own cordless screwdriver, lawnmower, and other machines that lie unused 99% of the time. Personally, I would find it good if there was a lending station for such things in our town where you could pick up and return the tools 24/7.

You can certainly rent those at the local hardware store. Although with a cordless screwdriver the effort is hardly worth the savings and with a lawnmower you use every two weeks even less so. Renting is more for special equipment like the really big Hilti or a vibrating plate. Although even there you quickly end up cheaper if you buy and later sell again.

I don't think so. 8-12 years ago we were also roughly between 2.75 and 4.5%. They will only regret not having already concluded a forward contract. In addition, the loan-to-value ratio and the loan amount have now decreased, so everything fits.

Uhmm, the interest rates 8 years ago were around 2.5% for 10 years. Now we are already at 4 and it will probably be even more in the coming months... Also, I have alone in my circle of acquaintances 2 couples (now families) who took out houses around the end of 2018 for 5 years! because they bet on further falling interest rates... For the first 3 1/2 years they were right, now the facial expression is unfortunately more serious when you meet them.

Uhmm, the interest rates 8 years ago were around 2.5% for 10 years. Now we're already at 4 and it will probably go even higher in the next few months...

Yeah, 10 years ago they were roughly similar to now, but since then interest rates have more or less continuously gone down. So for those who urgently need something now, it might not be that different, but if it stays like this for longer, the next few years will definitely be exciting. On the other hand, property costs have also risen massively during that time. I suspect the loan-to-value ratio is still significantly better today than the repayment might initially suggest, but that only compensates for part of it. Overall, however, the debt amount will be lower than what one would pay today for the same project. That might simply mean: yes, the monthly burden goes up. But it might still remain manageable (at least I wish that for everyone). But yes, those who financed extremely tightly, and maybe only for 5 years, will feel the pain now. How common or frequent that is or was, I can’t judge :S

Do you want a buffer tank for your (new) house? Maybe install it afterwards?

No, the delivery times for the buffer tank were about a colleague.

The heating element that is supposed to go into the buffer tank was not about my new building with a heat pump but about my old building in which a pellet heating system is installed.

You can probably borrow it at the local hardware store. Although with a cordless screwdriver, the effort is hardly worth the savings, and even less so with a lawnmower that you use every two weeks. Borrowing is more for special equipment like the very large Hilti or vibrating plate. Although even there, you quickly come out cheaper if you buy and sell again later.

It’s not possible at our local BaWa building materials store. And I was explicitly interested in getting these devices contactlessly from lockers or similar and putting them back again. And that without any personnel and 24/7.

Personally, I find your point interesting and will simply pick it out now as an example of the actual problem:

Most people have no desire to try something new and to leave the familiar paths. (This is not a reproach/attack or anything against you. If it should come across that way, I would like to apologize here immediately.)

With many new concepts introduced in Germany (whether car sharing, the 9-euro ticket, home office, renewable energies, e-mobility, new national football coach, new railway line, bottle deposit, ...) at first there are a thousand concerns and reasons why the idea is no good and why it’s best not to even try because it is doomed to fail from the outset.

Development always takes place outside the personal comfort zone. This whole discussion shows me that we forum members are still doing very well here when ideas for resource conservation and the resulting energy saving are categorically rejected. I am firmly convinced that if we do not promptly realign our energy demand and our consumption, we are heading for a catastrophe that will cause completely different problems that will make the current ones look ridiculous.