Installation of a gas heating system in new construction 2023/2024

Of course, that's complete nonsense and anyone interested in a serious discussion can reflect on that and see through it. But it doesn't even matter anymore, it's only about affirmation, no matter how absurdly constructed the next headline may be. And if that's not enough, they just switch to power grids and fever syrup, next expensive cucumbers at Aldi. By the way, those are going under too. One headline after another, completely meaningless but opinion-reinforcing, that the Occident is going under once again.

Hello everyone,
we have a new end-terrace house in sight and are uncertain about the heating.
It is a new building according to [GEG2020] with a gas heating system and solar thermal for domestic hot water.
The properties have been advertised since early 2021. They are currently close to completion. The neighboring terraced houses (3 units) are already sold.
Due to the current headlines about gas heating systems, we are unsure about buying a property with gas heating in 2023. Especially the future costs for gas scare us a lot.

Key data:
Purchase price 520,000 EUR (ready to move in without kitchen)
Living area 135 sqm
Usable area 59 sqm

We ask for advice.

Read the last 50 pages and pick something ;-)

There are people who generally still have no problem with installing a gas heating system today, others do, you can read about that on the previous pages. But how should one advise you in the concrete situation? Is the €520,000 for the house a "bargain" or an upscale price? What is the offer situation like otherwise in your search area? Is the house, apart from the gas heating, exactly what you wanted? Could you possibly afford a conversion to a heat pump and a photovoltaic system in the foreseeable future in addition to the house financing? Is the house price still negotiable with regard to the heating argument? Or are the prospective buyers queuing up anyway? These are questions I would ask myself in this situation and that we cannot answer for you.

There are people who still generally have no problem installing a gas heating system today, others do, you can read about this on the preceding pages. But how should one advise you in your specific situation? Is the €520,000 for the house a "bargain" or a premium price? How is the market situation in your search area otherwise? Is the house, apart from the gas heating, exactly what you wanted? Could you possibly afford converting to a heat pump and a photovoltaic system in the foreseeable future in addition to the house financing? Is the house price still negotiable in view of the heating argument? Or are buyers still lining up anyway? These are questions I would ask myself in this situation and we cannot answer them for you.

In my search area, properties in need of renovation (whether single-family houses, semi-detached houses, or terraced houses) are available for a purchase price of about €450,000 to €650,000. The renovations would cost €90,000 to €150,000.

For example, there are also semi-detached houses built in 2015 where you only have to replace the flooring and change the wall color. These cost about €650,000 plus incidental purchase costs with a broker.

Therefore, we are leaning more towards a new build.

The fact that it is heated with gas only bothers us because of the current legal situation. Otherwise, we are not ideological about it.

Buyer interest has not been lining up for about 6 months. More and more properties are coming onto the listing portals and remain there.

Hi,
putting it another way: does the insulation standard and the execution of the heating system allow for a later, trouble-free conversion to a heat pump? In other words, is there an underfloor heating system with reasonable distances between the heating loops, or are normal radiators still planned?

The insulation will definitely be okay in a new building, the question is about the heating system execution. Currently, the additional cost for a heat pump would probably be so high that you can hardly recoup the extra costs anyway, even if the gas price doubles or triples. And when the heating system needs to be replaced in 20 years, a heat pump will be installed and that’s that.

A 135 sqm terraced house with solar thermal should manage with a maximum of 8000 kWh gas consumption per year. (That’s how much we had in a 135 sqm semi-detached house from 2011). That puts you at 800-1000 € gas costs per year. A heat pump costs about 700 €. Even if the gas price doubles while the electricity price stays the same, that is perhaps 1300 € extra costs per year. A heat pump would currently cost you about 20k extra. That also has to be calculated with 4 % interest. So you have 1200-800 = 500 € savings through the heat pump. That results in an ROI of 40 years, the heating system won’t last that long anyway.
In other words: if the house can be properly converted to a heat pump later, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Best regards,

Andreas