No building plot can be found in the southern part of Schleswig-Holstein

And afterwards it becomes time-consuming and frustrating. It consumes at least one day of the weekend. You drive around the properties, ring doorbells in the neighborhood, and get 90% direct rejections. For the remaining 10%, you try to research further afterwards, again with 90% rejections. So to me, it doesn't sound like everyone will be doing this anytime soon ;)

You are completely right. Anyone who is not bothered by never-ending setbacks, refusals, and time-consuming driving around deserves from the bottom of my heart that the search will eventually be successful. But the real estate and land market would have to be really tense up to just before a complete standstill, and I would also have to be sitting in a moldy, drafty rented room for me to stoop to this kind of door-to-door canvassing and begging. And I believe that somewhere many people do have a threshold of shame. Despite all the need, one should never forget that I still want to buy a property from the owner for a lot of money and not apply for social welfare.

Actually, you have to find a building gap that is currently for sale or whose owner is considering it. Being in the right place at the right time - sounds like hitting the jackpot. There are reasons why a plot of land is not developed.

Begging demeaned

Threshold of shame.

Now let's keep things in perspective. These were absolutely nice conversations. We had first looked around the neighborhood for a few minutes to see if it was even suitable for us. Then we rang the neighbors' doorbells. They were mostly very nice—we politely asked if they knew who owned the property.
They found it more "exciting" than disturbing.
As supplicants who should feel some kind of shame, we certainly did not feel.

Again: the real estate market doesn't have to be tense to the point of blockage.
When searching with our one-year-old daughter, I personally don't want to wait 10 years for a property. And then another 3 years to build and move in, including formalities.
Then my daughter is 14 and I can slowly start planning her moving out.
Personally, I see no point in that...

You can put it another way. Either you are a doer or a waiter. We took our fate into our own hands. You and many others prefer to wait.

Actually, you have to find a building gap that is currently for sale or whose owner is considering selling. Being at the right place at the right time—sounds like hitting the jackpot.
There are reasons why a property is not developed.

We then had 2 jackpots within 3 months.

I'm really glad.

And so real gems are usually not the building gaps either, which have been lying dormant like Sleeping Beauty within the town for 20 years or more.

A municipality directly adjacent to the city boundary with land prices on the open market around €450/sqm decided in 2019 not to continue with the already planned new development area, but to focus first on infill development. Note the blue fields - all building gaps.

The municipality actively assists those wishing to build here through surveys, mediation, and information events for owners. Of course, this is a very positive example - but such examples do exist, and sometimes calling the desired municipality, even if no plots are currently being marketed, can help.

I have the feeling that the market has been going crazy since the beginning of the year. Almost nothing is being offered anymore (Corona???) and junk shacks that last year would rot on the portals for weeks or months are now gone from the portals within a few hours or marked as reserved.

I think all the city dwellers are now screwing up the market for us "locals" here. Suddenly, a house in the countryside is acceptable after all... And for normal people, nothing is left. That makes me think a lot and gives me the feeling that we are probably at least half a year too late :(