Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

Indeed, and it's especially shitty for the buyers from last winter 2022. They just bought their overpriced place in the small town at a price 30% too high.

Huhuu, here I am ;)

We bought a 120 sqm middle terraced house with 80 sqm garden for 365k - above average good location in the Ruhr area. No real estate transfer tax, since it was from my parents. Winter 2022…

Would we get that out now? Plus the 50k for renovation and bathroom modernization?

Hardly. Is that important? Not really.

I don't feel screwed over. Thank God, it's much more pleasant that way.

And honestly, it was much harder to create homeownership in the 80s,

And that is actually wrong. The ratios of income, construction costs, and interest rates were (most years) indeed better in the 80s than today. But in addition, one used [EL] not to be able to build at all, but to keep the standard of living "high."

The more often you repeat it, the more you believe it. But it is not true. In the past 80s/90s, it was really easier to acquire property.

It doesn’t really matter anyway. Even today, the dream of owning a house is, for example, cheaper than in the 80s (or even 90s). Inflation, construction prices, salaries, and interest rates are taken into account. Crazy, but true.

But that’s not true. It was really easier to acquire property in the 80s/90s in the past.

Huh?
Was it in the 80s more expensive and easier, more expensive and harder, cheaper and easier, or cheaper and harder?

Huh?
Was it more expensive and easier, more expensive and harder, cheaper and easier, or cheaper and harder in the 80s?

Good catch. It's probably too late already - I'm still sitting in the office...
Of course, it is still cheaper today than in the 80s/90s. My first statement is correct. Forget my nonsense

What is important is the monthly burden and that the property is paid off within a reasonable time. I don't think about the resale value of my Im(!)mobile. At least with a house, I want to live in it as long as possible. There remains a calculable monthly burden and I am not at the mercy of a landlord (slightly exaggerated). Of course, you should also build up reserves during that time. With an ETW, this is mandatory!

And that is actually wrong. The ratios of income, construction costs, and interest rates were (most years) indeed better in the 80s than they are today. But in addition, not just to be able to build at all, housing allowance was introduced to maintain the "high" standard of living. The more often you repeat it, the more you believe it. But it’s not true. It was really easier to become a property owner in the past, in the 80s/90s.

hmm, property yes, but what kind? Hint: Most of the property from the 80s/90s is still largely on the market – but it is no longer really snatched out of your hands. Regardless of any governments and heating regulations, it is simply no longer really en vogue that the attic is uninhabitable in summer, the basement is at best suitable for mushroom cultivation, and you could heat a multi-family house for a year with the fuel consumption. Yes, calculated over the entire repayment period, there were certainly fluctuations regarding how much working time one had to invest for a square meter of living space over the entire term. There were also always fluctuations in what quality you actually got for it—the house I grew up in was a 1950s post-war budget build, they used what they had and could afford—but the problem is: you never know beforehand. Once the house is paid off, you can look back more or less safely and ask yourself: Was that a good deal? But: Even if you were honest about it, what does it get you? I often stay at my in-laws’ in an 80s/90s terraced house, financed at 8% back then, yes, so what does the comparison bring me now?