Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

I am not an expert either, just giving my subjective opinion after the conversation with the boss of the [GU], with whom we are building. He has contacts in the [Handwerkskammer] and knows much better than I do what is going on in the area right now.

Exactly that was the reason in 2018/19 for my ex-husband and me to decide to build after all. Thanks to the high prices for existing properties, the land was almost balanced out by the lower ancillary purchase costs

I see it similarly. We would have also preferred to buy something that was already finished and saved ourselves a lot of effort and especially time in the old apartment. But the houses from 1970-1980 with old oil burners, heating demand of 150-300 kWh/sqm, often copper water pipes and invariably poor general condition would have cost around 400k. Added to that 50k in ancillary purchase costs and 100k for renovation, you can build new yourself even in expensive BW, including land, kitchen, and materials for outdoor facilities. With a consistent focus on budget builders like Town & Country or Danwood, probably even less, and in my opinion, the budget builders concerning building technology do not have to hide behind a 70s house. And in retrospect, I am glad, because then I would have replaced the oil burner with a gas heating system and now, besides the high gas prices, I would also have the problem of having to renovate everything to a heat pump in 10 years. And for such houses, a prospective buyer came through every 20 to 30 minutes, so probably still an auction process.

I am not sure, however, whether the cheaply built houses with insulation packaging will have good value development. There will still be quite a few surprises regarding durability, renovation, disposal coming our way.

I am also skeptical about that. On the other hand, many cheaply built houses from the past have recently been selling very well. And with many old buildings, people also turn to polystyrene, as after the expensive purchase you have to save somewhere. In this respect, I see the comparison as rather balanced. Proper renovation is of course possible too, but then it gets even more expensive, and the more complex the renovation, the more likely it is that you can also build new if plots are available.

We had a time in Germany when almost every working person could acquire a property. If it wasn’t enough for a single-family house, then an apartment it was. Period around 2015-2020. It reminds me a bit of the subprime crisis in the USA, although under different conditions. If borrowing money now actually costs something again in the long term, it looks different. Who is still buying an apartment in Berlin as a new development project costing 6,7,8, sometimes 10 thousand euros per square meter with 3.5% fixed for 20 years?

I see it similarly. We would also have preferred to buy something that was already finished and saved ourselves a lot of effort and especially time in the old apartment. But the houses from 1970-1980 with old oil burners, heating demand of 150-300 kWh/sqm, often copper water pipes and invariably poor general condition would have cost around 400k. Plus 50k in ancillary purchase costs and 100k for renovation, you can even build new in expensive BW, including land, kitchen, material for outdoor facilities. With consistent orientation towards budget builders like Town & Country or Danwood probably even less and I am of the opinion that these budget builders don’t have to hide in terms of building technology compared to a 70s house. And in retrospect I am glad, because I would have then replaced the oil burner with a gas heating system and now besides the high gas prices I would also have the problem in 10 years of having to renovate everything to heat pumps. And with such houses a prospective buyer walked through every 20 to 30 minutes, so probably still a bidding process

What you forget once again in this comparison is the plot of land. This will very, very likely be both in (often significantly) better location and (significantly) larger with the old building. The surroundings are also a completely different matter. That has advantages and disadvantages. You don’t live better in a new building than in an old building either, the differences are mostly technical and optical in nature. And a compulsory conversion to heat pumps including complete energetic renovation will not come in our lifetime, the decisive electorate, namely the strapped pensioners, will ensure this. In BW you can build a house for 550k, no question. But only if you have a gifted plot of land. Otherwise, in reasonably sought-after areas (BRW > 500€) that is simply nonsense.