Rent a house or buy/build? How did you decide?

Of course, paying off and maintaining a single-family house is more expensive than simply renting it. It has to be that way. The tenant only pays for the usage, while the owner, on the one hand, has built up assets, often not a small amount, and on the other hand, the rent payments stop with death, whereas the installments end with the end of the payment period, after which the owned house is clearly cheaper than rent, plus the value.

Nevertheless, you have to bear the maintenance costs at some point. Whether then in one sum in 15 years or as a monthly reserve. And if it has to be repaired in 6 years, then you bear those costs too.
If you're going to compare, then do it properly and not with such fictitious calculations as you are currently doing.

Yes, of course I bear them. Who else would?! The statement was that I don't have maintenance costs with the rent. Yes, I do! Just hidden in another form.
In other words, for our house we pay installment + utilities + imaginary maintenance. For our rental house we would pay rent (including imaginary maintenance) + utilities. If the landlord is a nice guy, I would end up pretty much the same. But since most people don't have anything to give away, I would probably even pay more for the rental house than for my own property.
But yes, now this is just speculation in the air.

To come back to the question: For me, owning a home only makes financial sense once it is paid off and I basically have my stone savings sock in reserve. You can see it as a piggy bank that you force yourself to feed. I would boldly claim that a large part of the renting population will never save up a home within the intended repayment period (or at least a significant part of it).

Yes, sure, but stocks and funds don’t only go in one direction – you have to actively manage them, and not everyone wants or can do that. A house can certainly continue to lose value. So what? Just keep living in it.

Yes, of course. But that is volatility, not risk. It certainly doesn’t hurt to check from time to time what’s going on. But: Anyone who puts their money into a broadly diversified index fund will not make a mistake given an appropriate investment duration, and you don’t even have to look at it. Those who want to withdraw something regularly just choose a distributing one. Those who don’t need that and don’t want to worry about reinvestment simply take an accumulating one. Stocks and equity funds are not, contrary to popular belief in Germany, some kind of devil’s stuff.

Of course I pay them. Who else?! The statement was that I don’t have maintenance costs with the rent. Yes, I do! Just hidden in another form

OK then I misunderstood you and probably you Chand1986 as well. His statement was that you have to consider the maintenance costs yourself (as the owner) in order to compare your expenses with the rent (where the landlord bears the maintenance and indirectly so do you).

We also want to be done as soon as possible to then be able to save something for retirement starting at 50.

Yes, of course. But that is volatility and not risk. It certainly doesn't hurt to occasionally check what is happening. But: Anyone who puts their money in a broadly diversified index fund, with an appropriate investment horizon, won't make a mistake and doesn't even need to watch it. Those who want to regularly withdraw something simply choose a distributing fund. Those who don't need that and don't want to think about reinvesting take an accumulating fund. Stocks and equity funds are, contrary to popular belief in Germany, not some evil thing.

If you pursue a long investment horizon AND don't need the money immediately, I agree with you. But you also have to be willing to keep investing to possibly take advantage of lows. Those who go into stocks / funds / ETFs usually have pocket money they invest and a loss or price risk does not hurt them, and they have the means to buy more. I invested for years, was too risk-loving. Options, etc. Had no good instinct and was eventually banned. Now we have property, full savings accounts, and I have better nerves. Never again watching Nikkei and Dow. Back to the topic. New build apartments at an excessive rent go to well-off retirees (Alfred), over 50s who had sold their houses, or young solvent couples. Never to well-earning couples with children.

I took the liberty of looking for rental properties in our immediate neighborhood.

Apartment
New build 2017, 102 sqm, 3 rooms, south-facing balcony (sea view would be east-facing balcony) 890 € cold

Semi-detached house
New build 2018, 144 sqm, 5 rooms (new development area, main railway line as neighbor - which is hardly audible, we often walk there) 1099 € cold.

Our house
Single-family house, moved in 2016, ~130 sqm, 5 rooms, sea view to the east, water 100 m away.
Clearly under 1000 € annuity including additional costs, payment goal debt-free in 20 years

So yes, building was cheaper for us than renting, I also prefer to spend my money on a marten guard at the downpipe rather than on the winter services provided by the landlord

P.S. There were no bidding processes with us, the municipal development company said first come, first served.