Report: Building a house as retirement provision? No way!

It’s not that simple to extrapolate. If child benefit is included, then parental benefit should also be included (which wasn’t available to that extent before). The singles include all the career starters. At 20 you earn less than at 30. Tax class 1 for singles, tax class 3 for married with one income

It cannot be easily converted to wages. But income is income. The tax class 3/5 yields the same after tax return as 4/4.

Aside from that, 400k+ is not enough for a house financing

Then we agree on the result.

I don't understand some users. Especially those who come without equity and suddenly can pay high installments.

How the banks evaluate is a mystery anyway.

The tax class 3/5 results in the same amount after tax declaration as 4/4.

Yes, but tax class 1 is not the same as 3/5 and there is no income on the 5.

It's not enough. Or you adjust your expectations to your budget. A bungalow, like Nordlys's, is enough for a family of three and the Flair114 is not a tin shack where you have to put bowls out when it rains.
Or skilled craftsmen buy a used property.

I don't understand some users. Especially those who come without equity and suddenly can pay high installments.

It depends on what you understand by a high installment. For example, we also have little equity (around 25k), which is mainly because we recently repaid my BAföG, I am not working yet (part-time job during studies but then first had a child, who will go to daycare starting in summer) and my husband also studied and therefore only really started working about 2 years ago. We also had to buy a new car because of the child and made the highest possible down payment, etc. So there isn’t much equity left but the installment can still be high if the income fits.

These are all costs that prevent a homeowner from building wealth. Sure, the cold rent is omitted here compared to a tenant. But anyone who believes that after paying off the house they can pocket the delta 1:1 is beyond help.

You’re probably right, but no one has claimed that so far. What has been claimed here is that rural real estate is not suitable for retirement provision, and that is by no means true. You simply cannot answer this question by just comparing sale prices at old age. The usually earlier effect of rent- and repayment-free living in the countryside, i.e., the savings, must be taken into account in the calculation. If the elderly people in the film have lived rent- and repayment-free for the last 20 years and now sell their house for 80,000 euros, then they may still be better off than someone who had to keep paying off their mortgage for the last 20 years and can now sell for 180,000 euros. Maintenance costs can be left out of consideration since I have them anyway. There are a few variables where I can happily calculate back and forth, e.g., higher commuting costs from the countryside to the workplace (but on the other hand commuter allowance can be claimed) or conversely higher property taxes and fees in metropolitan areas. Don’t get me wrong: I also would not want to forgo a proper infrastructure and good connection to the nearest major center. But I don’t believe that only a purchase of property in metropolitan areas has a future.

If the elderly people in the film have lived rent- and payoff-free for the last 20 years ".

There we have it.
Either one has not invested anything since paying off the loan – so indeed lived rent-free – and was able to save the money. But then the house is in need of renovation, and that has a massive impact on the sale price. However, one has at least saved their money by now.
Or one has maintained the house, replaced and adapted bathrooms, floors, heating, windows, electricity... at reasonable intervals... Then the house is in good condition and certainly can be sold at a significantly better price. Whether you get the investments back 1:1, no idea, I rather think not. But you also lived comfortably.

Sometimes it is shocking when you walk through the city and see houses – old windows simply glazed, plaster crumbling in gray-brown GDR style, no insulation, electricity obviously untouched since construction... Inside an old lady living in the modest standard of 1930. Of course, she won’t get a good price for her house! Probably not even in the big city... But I have at least seen such a cottage where the buyer really made something out of it, amazing, honestly!! He basically only bought the land and then invested as much money as would be required for a new house.

Of course, there really are areas with ZERO interest, neglected and completely without prospects (no jobs for anyone), where you actually can’t build a house because the construction costs are no longer worth it even before moving in. There, an existing house is also not a "retirement provision."