Cost experiences for possible house construction in rural Bavaria

Hello everyone,

My fiancée (28) and I (30) received the news about a week ago that we could buy a plot of land (approx. 700sqm, slight slope, but a basement probably wouldn't be necessary) from the local municipality here (northern Upper Palatinate; more rural area) for around €100,000.
Construction must begin within 3 years, and completion after that within 2 years.

We could buy the plot with savings, but we would have to finance the house.
Basically, we would like to have our own four walls to later live in with children and pets.

At the moment, we are both permanently employed, and our household income is about €6500.

Now is probably a very bad time to ask such a question since none of you have a crystal ball, but maybe you have more gut feeling and better experience than we do.

We had imagined buying a prefabricated house – roughly: KF40(+?), ~140-160sqm (I know – a big range, but with kids, home office, etc., a lot is still up in the air), no basement.
Garage, garden, etc. can all be done afterwards. We could do some things ourselves (painting, laying floors), so we would probably buy it "ready to be finished"(?). We don't have unreasonable demands, but there should be enough power outlets in the house, electric shutters would be nice, and the windows should be bigger than loopholes.

Could you maybe say what something like this would approximately cost? Currently, we are estimating ~€350,000 - 450,000 for the house (including possible additional construction costs, base slab, etc.).
Do you think that is realistic? Would that be too much/too little?

Since everything came up rather suddenly (someone dropped out originally, so we are next in line), we haven't been able to talk to different providers yet. We have only seen the prices some providers list online. We are planning to visit the prefab house exhibition in Nuremberg to look at a few houses there and get some initial rough price estimates. It just looks like we will have to give feedback to the municipality very soon about whether we are interested...

...but maybe you can already roughly estimate where this is heading.

If you need more details, just ask... we are grateful for any help for now.

We are currently estimating ~350,000 - 450,000 for the house (including any incidental construction costs, foundation slab, etc.). Do you think this is realistic?

No.

KF40(+?), ~140-160sqm

3000€ per sqm is not enough, additional costs include incidental construction costs, foundation slab, carport, outdoor facilities…

Plot (approx. 700 sqm, slight slope, but a basement should not be necessary)

Who said that a basement would not be necessary? A slope is often underestimated. Sometimes the effort for a slab foundation is not much less than building a basement into the slope.

We had imagined buying a prefabricated house

Why should it be a prefabricated house? At such an early stage, other types of construction should not be ruled out right away.

We could do a few things ourselves in EL (painting, laying floors), so we would probably buy "expandable" (?).

You usually do painting or floors even with turnkey. Expandable usually means you do the entire interior finishing yourself. Can you afford that?

Garage, garden, etc. can all be done later.

Please keep in mind that this also costs money and you first have to have that when you are still paying off a house and also want to live otherwise.

With prices, it is like reading from a crystal ball. For the first calculation, I would also go with €3000/m² plus additional construction costs.

Very important, do not sign anything right away. When a contract is pending, check everything calmly or have a professional check it immediately.

Basically, I would calculate with €3000, but if possible also calculate a bit higher and see where your pain threshold would be. Much more critical than construction prices, in my opinion, are the interest rates, and these are even harder to predict. Equally problematic is that catalog prices are always significantly cheaper than the final prices; don't be fooled by any promotional houses. For most prefab house providers, the foundation slab is not included, nor are the earthworks, nor the waste removal. Sometimes not even the architect. Utility connections, etc., are in any case at the builder's expense. Then there is the actual equipment: proper heating instead of air heating, energy level (why actually 40+, there is no longer any funding for that), tiles, sockets, washbasins, doors... you can easily lose a lot of money by adding extras.

Regarding the basement: definitely get a plan with height specifications or buy a hose level and measure it yourself. We have "a bit of a slope" and estimated it at 70-80cm, but actually it is 2m over the entire property. Without a basement, it is still economically viable for us, but one would not have been completely unnecessary. Also think about the outdoor facilities at the same time. The more slope there is, the more you have to work with the slope.

2021 prices:

3,050 euros including incidental construction costs without KfW, 2,800 including KfW subsidy (57,500 euros).

Built was KFW 55 230 sqm living/usable area on a slope with a basement living area in Bavaria. Large windows (including 2 lift-and-slide doors), fireplace, electric shutters throughout the house, otherwise no frills.

Doors, floors, bathrooms, stair coverings in EL.
No garden, no carport/garage. No fence, no terrace. But embankments, retaining walls, terrace embankment with L-stones, architect including LPH 1-8.

Financing fixed in September 2021 for 1%.

I would say, just by dropping KfW and the current 3.5% interest rates, we would not build anymore this year. Wait and drink tea.

If I were you, I would tackle the issue; with a bit of luck, the interest rates will now stabilize somewhat. If you need a 500k loan, a payment of 2000-2100€ could be realistic, which still fits well with the income. There is still time until the start of construction, so you should be able to save a bit more.

I would also aim for construction prices of 3,000€-3,500€ / m2. KFW40+ is currently, in my opinion, total nonsense.