Is financing a single-family house feasible for us?

Well, you can easily cover 60km within Berlin (30-45 km diameter) if you haven't optimized your place of residence and workplace. Admittedly, with an optimized choice, you can live fairly cheaply in Brandenburg and work in Berlin. But ultimately, it's not about Berlin or Munich or Brandenburg. The thesis presented was that no one is really forced to accept these expensive prices. It mainly comes down to priorities and personal sensitivities. External pressures play a more or less additional role, but in the end, you decide freely for or against it.

I once had an interesting discussion with a colleague who just moved out from the city (right in the middle of Neukölln) to the outskirts. He enjoyed the greenery etc., but then complained about the lack of public transport connections. We then discussed whether it is the state's duty to ensure that public transport runs at least twice an hour until late even in the last village in the forest. That is the flip side.

Yes. It would clearly be the state's duty. They don't want too many people to drive into big cities with their cars, but they expand public transport very slowly. Here with us (Beelitz), the train is supposed to run twice an hour from next year. With it, you can get to the main station or Alexanderplatz in 45 minutes.

Studies on Quality of Life in Germany --- Come on! Do I have to live in a big city or pretty close to a big city to have a high quality of life?

In hindsight, I am so glad that I grew up in the countryside and don’t miss city life even 1%, quite the opposite, living as a family with our own home in the countryside in a "10k Einwohner Stadt" is the most beautiful thing I can imagine.

- affordable construction prices
- family-friendly atmosphere
- pure nature
- no sacrifice of any activities
- in southern Germany (Bavaria or BaWü, the TOP industry, even in rural areas, so it’s relatively easy to find a good job)
- all shopping options/activities/leisure/clubs/train connections in the immediate vicinity

I’d rather afford an awesome standard of living here with a great “affordable” own home and commute once every half year for 35 minutes to the big city if that’s necessary

As a single or young couple, I can still understand that, but who really wants to live as a family in the city or close to a city?

Well, I’m probably a country bumpkin, but somehow pretty glad that I don’t have these demands

Beelitz is not the last forest village, though. And others would argue that it is the state's responsibility to create affordable housing in the cities. But that is a different discussion now.

Beelitz is not exactly the last forest village. And others would argue that it is the state's task to create affordable housing in the cities. But that is another discussion.

All a matter of opinion Even though it is called Beelitz city, it is very far from being a city.

Study on Quality of Life in German Districts

The Top Ten of the Study:

1. Munich (207 points)
2. Heidelberg (205)
3. Starnberg (204)
4. Potsdam (203)
5. Garmisch-Partenkirchen (201)
6. Munich (district, 200)
7. Miesbach (199)
8. Oberallgäu (199)
9. Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen (199)
10. Ulm (199)

7 times southernmost Bavaria, 2 times Baden-Württemberg and in the north only Potsdam among the top ten.

So many people just like living here

Well......it is another statistic among many with, in my opinion, very limited significance. I have lived in two of these cities, but I wouldn’t know why it should be nicer/better there than elsewhere.
To me it’s rather banal pigeonholing, since quality of life depends on many different factors. Most of the metrics used contribute nothing at all to my own quality of life.
I believe that throughout Germany, with maybe a few exceptions, one can experience a very good standard of living and also a good quality of life.
The best thing is to create this for yourself and not wait for someone to just drop it from the sky.
When I sit by a lake, in a nice café, or with pleasant people, I really don’t care in which region this takes place.
In this discussion, there is a bit too much of this "Miasanmia" attitude and I don’t quite understand what should be fundamentally better about Bavaria for my daily routine than elsewhere.
Once you let go of your own limitations, you will discover many new and beautiful things.
Why should my personal quality of life be interested in a technically based statistic? I don’t encounter in Bavaria the really content, happy people who are intoxicated by their statistically documented quality of life.

As a single or a young couple, I can still understand that, but who really wants to live in a city or near a city as a family?

That describes an essential feature of what I mean. Precisely the priorities, which can also shift depending on life circumstances.

As a single, I enjoyed being able to walk to about 20 different restaurants and snack bars with 10 different types of cuisine. just as many sports facilities and twice as many bars, all within walking distance. To be able to attend a concert that lasts until midnight and still get home in under an hour on public transport during the week. As soon as I had a family, I couldn’t use all those opportunities at all. The priorities shifted, and now peace, a garden, and a little house play a bigger role than the others.

The fact that it then had to be the expensive land near the city had different reasons again (patchwork & job), but yes, if that hadn’t had to be, I probably would have moved further out. Although I would also prefer a small town to really living somewhere in the woods.

It's all a matter of opinion Even though it's called Beelitz Stadt, it is very far from being a city.

Well, it has at least over 10k inhabitants. When I talk about Walddorf, I mean something like Märkisch Buchholz (which, by the way, is officially a city too).