Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

My gross value comes from Statista. Converting full-time gross to household net is the big unknown. And of course the old question of how far the average is from the median

Whereas statistically the median fits significantly better here. Outliers are thus filtered out and not included.

Well. Are there actually any figures on what proportion of new buildings from 1960 until today were built turnkey or even move-in ready?

Turnkey? Here, a house was first built with absolutely NOTHING else. No outdoor facilities of any kind, no garage, only the ground floor was developed. At some point, a "garage" was added, namely a hut made of multilayer compressed and lacquered cardboard. The ground floor had a coal stove in the kitchen that heated the other rooms more poorly than well through water pipes. At some point, the upper floor was finally developed, but with an oil stove in the living room and, for the really cold nights, an electric heater. So yes, house prices were lower back then – but what you got for the money was also something different.

Therefore: Turnkey? Move-in ready? Maybe in the 80s/90s, but still with a different standard.

Neckermann prefab house anyone? Building without personal contribution was a thing even before the 80s.

Whereas statistically the median fits much better here. Outliers are thus filtered out and do not factor in.

I know. But you first have to have data. Income is significantly less prone to outliers than wealth, and the difference between median and average is probably around 100€/DM. The orders of magnitude still fit then.

Yeah yeah. A small part will have also had his house ready to move into in 1960.

I built for the first time in 1999.... Interest rate back then was 6 percent. It worked, but also with a lot of personal effort. Today: ... financed at 0.9%. Also works, this time with less personal effort.

Thank you. You confirm exactly what I’m saying. In 1999 you made sacrifices = personal effort. Today? Nope. Why? Because it was possible thanks to the interest rates. It also works today with 4% interest. But then please again with sacrifice. Some dry numbers (OECD Statistics Department and Federal Statistical Office). Adjusted for inflation, real estate prices from 1980 until today (Q4 2022) have only become 15.5% more expensive. In the same period, household income, also adjusted for inflation, increased by 40.9%. Aggregating both statistics (that is the OECD affordability index – an interesting word creation...), affordability in the starting year 1980 was 100%. Today the value is at 72.7 ==> real estate has become more affordable. We are currently at the level of 1995, before that the level was always higher. However, one must also note that the index kept going down until 2010 (meaning properties were easier to acquire – due to significantly stronger growth in income compared to price increases in real estate). Since then, the market boomed until 2021 (where we were at the level of 1985). Since then, homeownership has been getting more affordable again. Of course, you must also consider the interest rate level. Between 1980 and about 2011 it was higher than today. And yet a lot of property was acquired – more expensive than today and also at higher interest rates. Why? Because it is doable. A buddy Möbert from Deutsche Bank Research described it well: “During the boom phase, no sacrifice was necessary when buying real estate, but that was a historical exception.” That should be it for the dry numbers. However, the tears of those wanting to build are not dried by the numbers. And certainly not the tears when one says: “Stop whining and just make sacrifices for your own home.” Mean, but at least statistically proven.