Property purchase / financing in the current situation - yes / no?

Is there actually anyone here who looks more optimistically at the development of costs?

Our plan B is: to give up the plot of land and put the real estate issue on hold until we have more equity and I have the possibility to switch to an E13/A13 position. That is realistic in 3 years, unfortunately only after the construction deadline has expired – and delaying with the municipality is unfortunately also a lottery because we depend on them. Or has anyone had different experiences?

Since we have no children, there is currently no pressure on us to move out of the apartment due to lack of space. A single-family house is simply a nice dream for us because we both grew up in one and have an absolute need for peace (we have already dealt with hellish neighbors in the multi-family house who made a ruckus over our bed from 5 a.m.). And due to our jobs, we both work at least 50% (I currently 100%) from home.

Have you already checked with the community whether they might be willing to give you an extension due to the current situation? I mean, they probably also have an interest in not getting the property back.

Have you already sounded out the municipality to see if they might be willing to grant you an extension due to the current situation? I mean, they probably also have an interest in not getting the property back.

Yes, I have. They said they understand the current situation but for now are sticking to it and cannot promise today that the deadline can be extended by 1-3 years (that was the timeframe the municipality mentioned). So it doesn't sound impossible, but also not optimistic. I think they are currently hoping that enough people among the interested parties will follow through. It was the same in the neighboring municipality, which now can't get rid of 60/100 properties.

According to the contract, they could initiate the return within 1 year after the building deadline is exceeded.

Is there actually anyone here who looks a bit more optimistically at the development of costs?

It will be difficult to find someone. The interest is still high, but due to the increased interest rates, it is simply no longer affordable for many. If costs decrease due to collapsing demand, then you will only benefit from that if the interest rates can't affect you much. For that, you need a lot of equity.

The question is also what the construction costs will do. The demand has in fact dropped to zero for new projects and in the next 24 months, the flood of old orders will still be processed. I can imagine that prices will go down a bit again because there will be more competition. Unless the government comes up with new regulations to hassle builders again, like a [Photovoltaik Pflicht].

put on ice until we have more equity and I have the opportunity to switch to an E13/A13 position.

Our logic right now is rather that if we get the financing now, then we'll do it. What is now an uncomfortable rate will ease considerably as a result. But in our case, it's about a terraced house from the developer who includes quite a lot upfront (e.g. painting and flooring are directly included up to a certain extent, as well as a prefabricated garage and paving work), so we don't expect huge unpredictable additional costs beyond that, as long as we remain strict about upgrades. But yes, it does seem a bit crazy to us right now and nothing is finalized yet (so maybe I'll quietly report in 3-4 weeks that we also abandoned it – we're optimistic but haven't discarded the option yet). Whether we would dare to build a detached house with all the freedoms that come with it, I don't know either ;) Conversely, two articles came across my desk yesterday that reported expected falling construction prices and "an end to the boom." Then a third, not quite so dramatic, anticipated stagnation to slight declines and not a big crash. I personally think the latter is quite likely and that wouldn't be the worst news for you if the plan is to save more in the meantime and wait a bit longer. What interest rates will do in the meantime, I absolutely cannot estimate. In principle, I consider "going up is faster than going down" very likely, but where the "high" caps out, I really don't know. Basically, with high interest rates, equity is even more valuable, so what you're planning isn't bad at all.