Does the real estate market increasingly force more families to build?

Yep, in the area of about 5km around our house, there are exactly 2 apartments larger than 140m² that one could rent. For both, the cold rent costs more than we pay for loan, additional costs, reserves, and special repayments ...

I don't care about the people, they complain anyway.

Well, they don't complain with us. We are rather pitied and laughed at. The latest comments: "Those who don't have work, make some." or "Do you want to be the most beautiful house in the village?" (Which we are far from) You hardly get time to dig if you want to create a flower bed in the front yard.

The main reasons for a house are still for me: no neighbors next door and the garden.

Well, they don't complain about us. We are rather pitied and laughed at. The latest comments: "If you don't have a job, you make one for yourself." or "Do you want to become the most beautiful house in the village?" (Which we are far from) You hardly get time to dig when you want to create a bed in the front garden.

The main reasons for a house for me are still: no neighbors on the wall and the garden.

Exactly, and if you do nothing?
With them, it's so unkempt
They must have money, that's when the garden landscaper comes
etc
Those are the same people

We also hear a lot. Mostly positive things - often from people who tell us how great they think it is that we do it ourselves; they always had trouble with companies. The only one who complains - but not angrily - is my mother-in-law. She no longer wants to see our construction debris pile in front of the house, what will people think, they are already talking about it, etc. But the container is coming soon, then the pile will finally be gone again.

Last week my partner cleaned out the workshop and in the process we noticed something very important: We have passed the point! The magical point. Because for a few months now we have been building up, finally setting up, doing things with permanence. Before that, we removed quite a bit, prepared, had to build/build some makeshifts. But now it is finally getting "real." The box with the switches, sockets, etc. for makeshifts was now gladly (!) disposed of.

I am as excited as a little child about the next "milestones": kitchen. paving. garden expansion including sauna (*freujubelhüpf*). Oh how wonderful all of this is <3

Those are the same people

Ha, that's still harmless. We were already accused of bribery at the office and supposedly also have millions in the account. Of course, none of that is true. We are paying off our debts at the bank like most people and we were just lucky at the office.

Therefore, as the questioner, a home of one's own with all the status and stress actually isn't important to me. But the lack of affordable rental houses or rental apartments with small gardens then forces families like mine to consider building. Because renting is similarly expensive or even more expensive depending on the region.

Recently, quite respectable buildings were constructed in Beelitz-Heilstätten that fit very well into the ensemble of the former hospital grounds, but are single-family homes with several hundred square meters of garden. You can rent them. However, the cold rent per square meter of these buildings is higher than what we pay for our loan.

...The main reasons for a house for me are still: no neighbors on the wall and the garden.

I don't even have neighbors on the property boundaries. At least not ones who live there directly. To the aforementioned ones with living quarters, it is 40, or rather 50 meters. The main reason for us was our landlord (self-absorbed, arrogant) and the certainty of no longer being able to get a suitable apartment in Potsdam without having to wait for years and being at the mercy of the former forever.