Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

I completely agree with you. With an older house, you are usually comforted about the compromises by pretty details (or "nostalgic charm"), whereas with a new build, in my opinion, there is nothing like that. Our last house from the 50s had details that we and many others cannot afford in a new build and that we miss.

What details do you mean? The advantage of old houses that I see is that practically all of them here in the south have basements. I don't really find any arbitrary projections and recesses in the building shape charming ;)

But are the journeyman wages really that much higher after taxes? I really wonder about that. Does a roofer or mason who tears down his house here for 650€ and gets 2.2k net get 4k net in Bavaria while having to pay 1.8k per month for the property? I applied directly in Munich after my studies back then, but after the salary offer I immediately declined.

A nurse, educator, police officer, etc., despite the allowance, do not earn much more in Munich than elsewhere, at least not to the extent that it covers the significantly higher rents. At our former elementary school in the Munich suburbs, there were two young female teachers who were sent to us as their first job from further away. They could not find an affordable apartment; one initially traveled with a motorhome and stayed on private land. The other initially commuted over 2 hours one way every day. Eventually, they found a basement apartment through the school community, which was so small that they lived there alternately, so each only had to commute every other day. And this regularly happened with young teachers; as soon as they could, they had themselves transferred far enough away from Munich, and the next ones had the problem. That's about the higher salaries in Munich that are often talked about. You can have them in the “right industry” at the “right corporation,” but that is not universally valid.

Overtime is capped at 20 hours with us, it must be authorized and we have to take time off in lieu promptly. Payment is only possible if we can prove that the work cannot be done otherwise. And yes, the higher salaries are mostly limited to the large companies, law firms, etcpp.

The advantage of older houses: the interior doesn't look like everywhere else. I fall into a sleep paralysis when I enter new houses and the floor plans are all the same with the same color scheme and the same furnishings.

The advantage of older houses: the interior doesn't look like everywhere else. I go into a sleep paralysis when I enter new houses and the floor plans are all the same with the same color scheme and the same furnishings.

The open-plan room in an L-shape almost comes about by itself ;)
You have control over color and furniture yourself, that's less about the house.

and there is usually already an established garden - for me this would have been the biggest advantage for existing property

It will take a few more summers until we have tree shade and hammock-worthy trunks