How is a 400k loan financible without equity? Net equity at €4,500

He consciously chose a house and is making compromises. When it comes to vacation, it's by the sea or visiting family abroad. Hotels rather not.

Interesting perspective. I couldn't go on vacation in a hotel every year and never saw it that way. Otherwise: For an 80000 plot, the house is too expensive, then it would also fit again.

nobody talks about finances.

There are actually always many numbers here in the forum. But you also need to provide a few more data points.

How old are you? How long can you still save? How much do you currently save per month or year for sure?

And what does no equity mean? Not even the €10,000 ancillary purchase costs (are these already included in the land price)?
Or do you at least have a buffer to cover furniture, kitchen, and especially unforeseen additional costs, which you currently do not want to contribute?

Who can still afford a house then? What is your assessment?

Many people can, otherwise the market and prices would not be so tense. Some have equity, some have a high income, some take high risks with low repayment and short fixed interest periods.

The house is just extremely tightly budgeted. Can you be happy with such low expectations or would a nice apartment be the better alternative? 100% financing is associated with many risks and I wouldn't do it. During construction, things can easily go wrong and you need a buffer in the worst case for a court case.

we calculated the following with a house provider:

land 80,000€
house 300,000€
additional costs 55,000€

We always want to have at least 1,000€ left at the end of the month for saving or partly for spending. Therefore, the pain threshold for the monthly rate is 1,250€.

We fear that we will have to give up on building the house :/

You currently have 0% equity, but that doesn’t have to remain that way forever, right? You don’t have to put the house building plan on hold just because you haven’t saved anything yet. If you currently have such an income, you should be able to put some capital aside in the coming years. We built under similar conditions as you. We only had a little equity saved (25-30k). And we don’t have the claim to build a house and still have 1,000€ cash left every month for fun. A certain amount, yes, but 1,000 is quite a lot. You have to set priorities somehow. Otherwise, with the loan, we made sure it is currently manageable with 1.5 salaries (and would also work long-term) – just at the cost of private “comforts”, but we have the option to pay at least 5% per year as special repayments. This way, in the years when our child is out of the worst phase, we have the option to pay off the loan much earlier.

So I would never do it completely without equity. On the one hand, you are dependent on financing from the very beginning. You will then have to pay commitment interest even before the construction really starts. Any delay/change/increase in costs/upgrade becomes a real problem without buffers and reserves. And construction that goes perfectly according to plan and where there is a price guarantee does not exist. Just the soil survey alone could change everything... There are quite a few risks for builders.

No risk, no fun. These financings are risky, but quite common in other countries. So it works. In the so-called financial crisis 2008/2009, such loans defaulted by the dozen.

For 80000 land, the house is too expensive, then it would fit again.

This idea of proportionality is somewhat simplistic.