Financing comparison: past vs. today

When I read the numbers here, I occasionally feel dizzy. What I do notice, however, is that many (throughout all threads) talk about €5000 - €6000 net monthly income. That sounds to me as if mainly well-paid and top earners are hanging around here. Is that so, or am I seeing it wrongly?

Is that so, or am I looking at it the wrong way?

That is probably the case. This is due to the fact that, given the current market situation, almost exclusively the group of people you mentioned can afford to build a house.

When I read the numbers here, I sometimes get dizzy. But what I notice is that many people here (consistently in all threads) talk about 5000€ - 6000€ net monthly income. This sounds to me as if mostly well-paid and top earners are gathered here. Is that so, or am I looking at it the wrong way?

So I just took 5000-6000 net as an example because in my view it is currently very difficult to build with less. But with 5000 net as a family, you are by no means among the top earners. Of course, as an individual you are, since I believe you already count as a top earner with around 3750€ or so. About 7 years ago we also built with significantly less salary, but we are now almost at 5000€, including at least child benefit, even though my wife only works part-time and we are doing very well as it is. However, the prices were different. We had paid about 340K for the house and land, additional costs, double garage, kitchen, and outdoor facilities, so basically all-inclusive.

Without doing any calculations, one can simply say that today it is much worse/harder to build a single-family house.

In our countryside, everyone, but really EVERYONE used to build.

Meaning: family with 2 children, mother at home (possibly even permanently) and without a significant job for the father and with an income below average.

They also didn’t save much more or anything else… It worked out.

Today, with a household net income of €6,000, you have to consider whether you can EVEN build a single-family house at all, let alone the dimensions that used to be built.
That the mother then stays at home? Don’t even think about it…

Nobody can tell me otherwise… Right now is the most difficult/expensive/riskiest situation since houses have been built.

Children’s clothes were always bought too big, mended, and passed on.
There was a vegetable garden, food was bought much more according to the season. Sandwiches and pastries from the bakery every morning with coffee to-go did not exist.
Delivery service? Party service? Nail lady? Gym?
Vacation? Yes, maybe 2 weeks in a holiday apartment somewhere in Germany, sometimes for years not at all.
1 car
1 telephone
4 TV channels
Mostly heated with wood that you cut yourself in winter.
There was no hot water 24/7.
The house itself
Outdoor area eventually done by yourself
Actually, everything was somehow built on your own over years. When one house was finished, the friend, brother, neighbor was next.
The houses themselves rather plain. No dressing room, children’s bathroom, or gallery. KNX? Ventilation system? Fingerprint door opener?

It wasn’t earlier that everything was easier in the sense of lighter. Much was simpler in the sense of plainer.

Children’s clothes were always bought too big, patched up, and passed on.
There was a vegetable garden, food was bought much more according to the season. Open-faced sandwiches and pastries from the bakery every morning with coffee to go did not exist.
Delivery service? Catering? Nail technician? Gym?
Vacation? Yes, maybe sometimes 2 weeks in a holiday apartment somewhere in Germany, sometimes not at all for years.
1 car
1 telephone
4 TV channels
Heated mainly with wood that you cut yourself in winter.
There was no hot water 24/7.
The house itself
Outdoor area done eventually by oneself.
Actually, everything was somehow built by yourself over years. Once a house was finished, it was the turn of the buddy, brother, or neighbor.
The houses themselves were rather simple. No walk-in closet, children's bathroom, or gallery. KNX? Ventilation system? Fingerprint door opener?

It wasn’t that everything was easier in the past in the sense of being lighter. Much was easier in the sense of being simpler.

In the past, the mother stayed at home and therefore brought home 0.0 income (at least that was the case in my childhood for 80% of my friends/parents). So, depending on what the woman could have earned, part-time or full-time, over €1,000 per month was missing here in the end. So everything you mentioned above is equalized. And then with the aspect that back then everyone built — even with very “meager” incomes — that hardly works today at all.

Certainly, the standard of living was higher in the past, but as I said, the money was hidden elsewhere. Houses were built larger, the woman took care of the children and stayed home permanently...

Above all, you used to get the building plot as a gift... it felt like everyone had a building plot somewhere... today? You pay triple just for the building plot alone, which never had to be financed before, because grandpa/dad/great-grandpa still had a piece of land with about 1,500 m² lying around somewhere.

Solid wood furniture used to be bought for €5,000 per piece (today you pay €500 for a wall unit, or you don’t even put something like that in your house anymore but only buy cheap, cheap).

My parents already look at me strangely today when I pay only €1,500 for a wardrobe — back then that cost the door :D

There are certainly many more examples and points of reference that I just didn't think of at this second :D

4 TV channels
heated mostly with wood that you cut yourself in winter
There was no hot water 24/7

We are talking about 2000, not 1980.

We were certainly not in the top 10%, but we still had a normal heating system and hot water around the clock. We heated with oil and the still existing tiled stoves were out of operation (no chimney attached).
There were definitely more than 4 TV channels even back then; if I remember correctly, there was even DVB-T.
You have to keep things in perspective when talking about old stories.

But! We didn’t have a house and certainly couldn’t afford one.
Still, I believe that costs have increased more than the salaries in that sector...