Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

Anyone building a house today assumes a service life between 50 and 70 years. Actually quite little in historical comparison. I don’t believe that the builders of Gründerzeit villas in the big cities assumed such a short remaining service life.

And if we consider that the apartments in these houses, built and planned 150 years ago, are still enjoying growing popularity today, then it wasn’t all that bad.

How do you want to renovate in cities with historical building fabric? For example, I have seen enough in Nuremberg how hundred-year-old sandstone facades with 60 cm wall thickness were then packed again in 15 cm of Styrofoam to be irretrievably lost.

And not primarily to improve energy efficiency but to adjust the rents upwards.

If one had always followed such fantasies as those of Habeck, there would be no half-timbered towns or historic inner cities or building ensembles left today.

While we’re at it. Is there legal certainty for citizens as well? Can I legally demand a district heating connection? Or does the connection and mandatory usage, which has long existed, only apply to the state?

Now they are promoting direct electric heating again. We already had that 40 years ago. And most people also know where electricity prices are headed. They certainly won’t fall anymore.

Yes, if you reach a KFW level with it. But usually you have to do everything at once for that. We recently had to finance our 48,000€ at about 5% because despite all measures we couldn't achieve a KFW house and then the KFW loan is off the table. You end up paying several thousand euros in interest on top. You just have to be able to afford it all.

I was assuming the one-time investment of 50k for heat pump capability. After all, the whole window issue is already settled. I mean, of course there are cases where it gets complicated. But with a prefab house from the eighties? You have (like us) a much older house, right?

Nordanney is also bringing his house from the 60s into the modern age, and I doubt that he is putting money in it purely out of passion.

I no longer see it as such a lost cause at my parents’ house either. They actually don’t want a new combustion heater anymore themselves, and our layman’s feeling says "it should actually work without underfloor heating everywhere." Gradually, there are more reports in that direction saying "yep, it works," but as of last year, there were hardly any people with experience in such things. And when the statements were along the lines of "oil bad, gas bad, pellet bad, heat pump doesn’t work," you kind of stand there clueless at first.

Technically, many things are possible. Very many. But unfortunately, in the end, it always has to be reasonably economical.

Economic viability can come from two sides. What is not worthwhile today can become very economical with a CO2 price of 10c/kWh gas. Currently and for the next few years, it is capped ("Wash my fur but don't get me wet"). However, that will change at some point, and even today, the CO2 price on the free market is twice as high as the planned limit for the next few years. With the goal of net zero, it is clear that fossil fuels can only be used in rare special cases, and the price for them must be so high that gas heating systems and combustion engine cars are not worthwhile.

Not at all. Anyone who buys inventory at these prices is either crazy or rich. Rich not in the sense of the German average income, and with an income of 60k€ per person you’re rich bla bla ;-) Because even after the renovation (around 150k€ I would agree) you still have a house that’s about 50 years old.

Because even after the renovation (around 150k€ I would agree) you still have a house that is about 50 years old.

Why is the general tenor here actually that houses >20 years are bad and should be torn down? My house is 75 years old and hasn’t been sneezed or blown away by the wolf yet. Well, it lacks the nowadays desired ugly columns at the entrance and I only have a ceiling height of 260 but I’m only paying for 15 years.