Is starting construction in 2015 reasonable?

Hello, we recently bought our plot of land and have 2 years until the necessary start of construction. Since we own a condominium, we want to take our time with building and plan calmly. A developer said that it would be sensible to start as soon as possible because regulations on energy consumption will tighten significantly in 2016. Also, the costs for building materials are currently rising immensely. What do you think? Does the seller want to pressure us for no reason, or is he right? So far, we have unfortunately not found a suitable floor plan or developer, and we still want to sell our apartment...

Good evening,

I am not wondering for the first time – when I read here in the forum – why nearly every statement of a seller is met with distrust.

A property developer said that it would be sensible to start as soon as possible because the regulations on energy consumption will be tightened significantly in 2016. Furthermore, the costs for building materials are currently rising immensely. What do you think? Does the seller want to pressure us without reason, or is he right?

No, he is completely right; with both statements.

Best regards from the Rhineland

Well, salespeople are known for wanting to sell. Can you please justify your agreement with the statement?

Good evening,

Well, sellers are known for wanting to sell.

Now, as far as I know, they can only pay their bills if they have the corresponding credit in their account

Can you please justify your endorsement of the statement?

Tightening of the energy standard from 2016

From January 1, 2016, the new Energy Saving Ordinance 2014 introduces the tightened energy standard for new buildings - i.e. newly constructed buildings - as follows:

[*]Energy efficiency of the building: The maximum allowable annual primary energy demand (for heating, water heating, ventilation, cooling and, for non-residential buildings, also for installed lighting) decreases by 25 percent compared to the current Energy Saving Ordinance 2014.


[*]Thermal protection of the building envelope: The maximum permitted average heat loss through the building envelope decreases by approximately 20 percent compared to the current Energy Saving Ordinance 2014.

The construction industry and all industries dependent on it are booming. In recent years, all "ingredients" (including wages) for building a house have continuously increased; in 2015 so far by 3% and no end in sight.

Rhenish greetings

Which Kfw standard is required from 2016 onwards? That should then be Kfw75, right? We were planning to build that anyway...

Presumably, it will still be called KfW 70, 55 and 40 or however it always is. Just starting from lower values.

So if you want to build a KfW 70 house today, that will probably be sufficient for the Energy Saving Ordinance 2014, but KfW funding might no longer be available, because the threshold for funding is being raised.

Unfortunately, KfW always makes statements about this very late. So no one can really tell you how it will actually go. But as described above, that has been the case in the past. Whether that can be transferred... no idea.