Current financing offer from the house bank

Might be. But it doesn’t really help. When selling and then buying new or building new, it will be at least just as expensive, if not more expensive.

It does help.
If Person 1 has invested 200k equity into an apartment now worth 400k and Person 2 has 200k equity in a savings account, Person 1 now has much better conditions to purchase a property for 800k+ than Person 2.

Because you asked in the other thread: we also took out a very large loan, but in the end we are paying "only" €200 more than we pay for our centrally located 2.5-room apartment in Munich. If you want to stay in the area (30 km around Munich), you have to reckon with rents of up to €3,000 cold per month in the long term – of course only if you want an apartment where each child has their own room and that is connected to public transport – and God forbid it might even have a garden. Of course, there are exceptions, but I don’t want to rely on getting lucky exactly when it’s needed.

Since we want an apartment with enough space and a garden and public transport connections and an opportunity to build arose (that was already the lucky break), we took the chance. The high loan is matched by a high value. If something doesn’t work out with the financing or if in 5 years we change completely and prefer to live in the forest or a job offer lures us away, we can rent or sell. I don’t worry about the concerns you have because there are enough "ways out" if this turns out to be the wrong decision. Since we discussed the options in detail once, the loan doesn’t feel like a burden.

The comparison of rental costs – loan amount certainly doesn’t work in all areas of Germany, but here it works very well. And if for you it turns out the same way as for us (which is the case if I look at your posts), then there’s absolutely no question what to do. Sign and go.

Best regards

on rent level - loan installment comparison I would say, in metropolitan areas yes, which is often forgotten when looking at the statistics regarding purchase prices following rent prices. This usually assumes average rents. but that is not the rent at which you can rent a new apartment when you are just moving in or need to enlarge (or downsize). The new rental prices continue to rise or stagnate at an incredibly high level. At least for Berlin, it is also the case that there is no movement at all. Almost everyone who already has an older rental contract for an apartment sticks to it, even if they would actually like to move. Quite simply because for an apartment of the same size (just closer to work, for example) you would suddenly have to pay twice as much. Or because the actually needed larger apartment becomes unaffordable.

For someone from the countryside (Lower Saxony) like me, this is also incomprehensible. Someone here would be considered completely crazy for buying something like that for the amount, and the banks would laugh at you. But apparently, cities have a different view on such things.

Yes, prices in cities or metropolitan areas are really decoupled. I moved from Hamburg to Saxony-Anhalt. My salary and that of my wife are about the same here as we earned/would have earned in Hamburg. Only in Saxony-Anhalt did I not have to pay 500,000 € for a semi-detached house with 90 sqm in Barsbüttel or 800,000 € for a new build. Even a 50% higher salary in Hamburg doesn't help me if I have 100% higher construction costs. Luckily, my parents own several properties in Hamburg... eventually the high Hamburg real estate prices will benefit me, and I can retire as a private person with Hamburg money in Saxony-Anhalt and fully enjoy our small detached house and our garden (with a monthly rate below a Hamburg one-room apartment rent).

Of course, you also have to deduct quite a bit from the rent to get to the loan installment. Maintenance costs, for example, are borne by the landlord. But most people compare apples and oranges and equate cold rent with the installment. And before someone tells me "with rent the money is simply gone," that applies just the same to the interest portion. It's just rent for the money instead of for the property. The portion that actually goes into ownership with a comparable amount is significantly less than most people believe.

Yes, but precisely for that reason you can compare it. Because the landlord is not allowed to pass on the maintenance costs through the additional charges, but then it is included in the rent. However, the total rate for the loan also includes repayment. That means, correctly, you would have to compare the interest portion of the annuity with the net cold rent. I doubt that there would still be a pro rent in urban areas then.