Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

Then rather live squeezed together with 4 people in the 75sqm downtown apartment for rent. Yes, that makes sense.

I think you can't generalize that. Everyone is different and has different circumstances. It also depends on age and whether you already have a family. Not every job is available in every area. Sometimes the parents, children, grandchildren are in the area and you can't/won't move away, maybe you are needed there as well. Finding new friends is not always easy and not the same for everyone.

Then rather live squeezed together as 4 in the 75sqm downtown rental apartment. Yes, that makes sense.

It depends. The last two years with Corona and a small child have shown us that without family nearby we would have gone under with great difficulty. Since September, we haven’t had two consecutive weeks in which our daughter was in daycare as planned. Either she was sick herself or the daycare was closed due to outbreaks of various illnesses. If my wife or I had stayed home sick with the child every time, we would have had massive problems at work regardless of the current legal situation. This way, one of the two grandmothers could always step in from time to time and relieve us partially. If we didn’t live in an expensive condominium in Bavaria but rather in the deepest Brandenburg, we would probably have a house, but entirely different problems.

That's right. If you go by that, "the main thing is to have a house," there are plenty of cheap areas in the world ;)

I often wonder, but maybe this is some sort of "chicken-or-egg problem," whether builders are "steered" by marketing experts in this regard or whether these are really innate wishes and needs. I find it especially striking with regard to the color combination white-anthracite/gray. I think, it "simply can't be" that suddenly almost all builders prefer this color combination over any other and in earlier years "no one" did.

I often find that something becomes a must because of marketing and magazines. There was a time when so many new builders were surprised by the high prices—they only want standard. - Walk-in closet, children's bathroom - electric shutters - some smart home features - garage - anthracite-colored window frames - large-format tiles - rain shower etc. In how many cases is the walk-in closet so small that it barely fits as much wardrobe space as a well-designed 15sqm bedroom or the children's bathroom resembles a wet cell? But somehow the gallery still has to be included, the floating staircase, etc. At some point, unfortunately, the builder has to ask themselves whether these are too many compromises to forego vacations, leisure activities, and so on.

If I follow the developments like this, then I am really glad that last year we also belonged to the "now or never" faction and were quite willing to compromise on the house (not on the location), because as of today we could no longer afford that.

I think today it would only be enough for a 3/3.5 room condo (assuming the same annuity).
That is really crazy.

I continue to observe the market and partially notice that the asking prices are becoming "more realistic."
Houses that last year - listed at the same price - would have been online for a maximum of 30 minutes are now sometimes listed for weeks.

I can already imagine that the prices in the purchase contract are now also below the asking prices, whereas last year it was often the other way around.
Nevertheless, the monthly burden, despite partially falling prices, is probably still generally higher than last year with higher prices but MUCH better financing conditions.

Some people still want to make a killing and demand 700 k EUR for a plain terraced house in a "middle location."
Well...

The bad thing about the current development is that especially young families with more than one child are being left behind.

Well, that may not be optimal for the affected family, but it is not terrible. And a family is not left behind just because they cannot afford to own property in their desired location at the moment. Life is about compromises. If you live in an expensive area, it almost always has many advantages, it’s not expensive for no reason. If the housing is cheap, there are reasons for that too. Everyone then has to weigh for themselves what is more important. If someone likes to do everything by car anyway, they can live 20-30 km out of the way. But if you travel by bike and the family has a full week, it’s probably more practical to live more centrally. Then there is only the rental apartment. I understand your situation, but you must not put yourself in a victim role and let yourself be pressured by friends/acquaintances and society as a whole about what an adequate family home should be. Children don’t really care whether two or three of them sleep in a small room or if everyone has their own wing in a park estate. What is more important is that they get time, boundaries, and affection.