Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

This tool rental story also exists here in town (Bibliothek). But I also believe that a lot here is about neighborhood help. We borrowed a crazy amount of stuff from acquaintances and neighbors when we were working on the house. Nice neighbors are priceless The office has now also opened a Digital Center where you can borrow various things or they are available there. Among other things, also a 3D printer. And a few kilometers away, there is a fully equipped auto repair shop that you can book to work on your own car (it has been around for a very long time) So ideas and offers are already available.

And yesterday an old man rang the bell here, who lived here as a child from 1945 and wanted to show the houses of his wife - his wife was also bombed out as a child. He told that during the terrible winter of 46/47, they at least received wood briquettes from the employer, while people in the houses opposite froze to death. Where the rabbit hutches stood, which served as meat supply.

That quickly brought me back down to earth again, because shortly before I had thought how sad I was that we could not afford the long-awaited flight vacation again this year. We are just way too spoiled.

I always think of the story of my grandparents... My cousin was supposed to make a documentary film for her bachelor thesis about the life story of grandma/grandpa (Russian Germans). They talked for 1 1/2 hours about their lifetime (up to 60 years). The concluding sentence will always remain very formative for me: "Now we live in Germany and we are doing very well." The summary of 25 years in 3 seconds!!!

What is healthy financing anyway? It seemed to me that especially from 2018 onwards EVERYONE suddenly wanted a house and ALSO got one. The banks distributed loans to everyone without hesitation... And I don’t believe everyone financed as healthily as perhaps 90% of this forum :D

In 2017 and 2018 we had several existing properties and houses from developers priced out and went to the bank with the offers. For one house (550 K) we explicitly had a financing plan calculated and honestly, we fairly and hope-wise expected that the bank would not offer us a loan and would advise us against it. When the advisor then only said: "How soon do you need the money? Well, you can have it by early next week." we walked backwards out of the office again and decided on a condominium for half the price. That loose money policy really discouraged us back then. For the financing of the condo there were, simply put, interest rates from 0.7% depending on the term. We then consciously chose safety and 1.45% over 30 years. What can I say? Since then, I couldn’t care less about the financing, it just runs in the background. If upcoming wage increases due to inflation are higher than the usual 3% of recent years, the relative share of our family income will become smaller and smaller.

What is a healthy financing anyway? It seemed to me that especially from 2018 onwards, EVERYONE suddenly wanted to have a house and ALSO got one. The banks handed out loans to everyone without hesitation... And I don't believe everyone financed as healthily as maybe 90% from this forum :D

I believe that from 2010-2012 maybe not everyone wanted to have and got a house. I see the real problem coming in 4-5 years. That's when exactly the financings you described will come up for follow-up financing. I fear that will get really serious.

I am very glad that I have part of it as a full repayment loan over NRW.Bank with 30 years. So I "only" have to refinance what remains of 176k in 14 years.

For 5 years I have always lacked the nerves. We locked in our 2.54 in April for 20 years because everything else was too uncertain for me. We also had a 15-year fixed interest rate on the first house, and I would have preferred longer there as well. Back then, however, the discrepancy between 10/15/20 was greater, so it seemed uneconomical to us.

I believe that maybe not everyone wanted or was able to get a house from 2010 to 2012. I see the real problem coming in 4-5 years. That’s when exactly the financings you described will come up for follow-up financing. That will be really tough, I fear. I am very glad that I have a part through NRW.Bank as a full repayer with 30 years. So I "only" have to refinance what remains of 176k in 14 years.

Yes, I completely agree with you, in 4-5 years it will get even more interesting if!!! energy prices, inflation, and interest rates don’t fall, what will then happen on the real estate market. But that is all in the future... I would just really like to know how large the proportion of people is who financed for 5 years around 2018; there were certainly many speculators who bet on falling rates.

I would really just like to know what proportion of people financed for 5 years around 2018, there were surely many gamblers who bet on falling prices.

We had financed for 9 years at the end of 2017, at 0.92% back then. 9 years because a full repayment was planned within that time ;) But we also have neighbors in the settlement who financed for 5 years and 1.5% back then and who now have to swallow hard at the extension...most, however, chose a term of 10 or 15 years.