Phew, so I feel like things are getting a bit mixed up here. No one here ever talked about a €700,000 loan. Nor about "paying it off until retirement" or putting > 50% of the income into the house.
I just wanted to get some assessments on whether my thoughts about the monthly payment are okay. 2-3 people think €2,500 is way too much, but on the other hand not enough to even think about building. 1-2 people think I should just go for €3,000 right away. The vast majority thinks it might work out, but you should reconsider the priorities carefully.
That already gives me a very good picture – and since we still have to wait anyway, I’ll just keep everything in view for now and observe how income, equity, interest rates, construction development, delivery difficulties, etc. develop.
ONLY THEN will we see what we can actually achieve with our means. That we would like a more "interesting" house DOES NOT mean that we will be able to afford it. We are well aware of that. But that was never what this thread was about from the start.
Maybe put differently: We are not planning the house first and then seeing if we can afford it. We are first seeing what we can afford and simply want to make the most out of it.