Why do German people seem to prefer new built houses?

[Nighbynight]

Is it just a cultural thing?
where we live, new houses are really expensive, but older houses much cheaper. Is it just preference, or is there some secret that I don't know about (for example, that the Rathaus gives you a huge bill for compulsory restoration after you buy an old house)?

I think a lot of the postwar building was shoddy by necessity because they had to put up a lot of accommodation fast which is why people generally prefer newer buildings. Modern built homes will meet modern standards which I'd imagine are high in Germany.

With an older house, take an architect or Bauingenieur with you to view the house before you buy it. I would expect the house to need new insulation but I expect the big problem will be the plumbing, replacing all the pipes etc and keep a beady eye out for damp which will have been painted over, you need to know how to spot it. You would be wise to get proper qualified German Handwerker to do any serious construction work/plumbing but they are expensive. We (like other people I know) employed Eastern Europeans and regretted it.

Judging by what I see on the property market, you will not be obliged to restore your property in a particular manner unless it is explicity advertised as an historical building (which is perhaps a Palladian villa type thing not a normal house from the 1930s). My aunt slipped up badly on this. She and her dh bought a home in London which was a bottomless pit of expense to do up and involved interminal visits from the historic buildings trust or some such body. Having learnt from her experience, I wouldn't do that.

Sandy, I found the exact opposite! The 1960s and 1970s houses that Ive visited/lived in have been very solid. But our 1990s flat in Mch was paper thin.

when I was married to ex h, we bought 3 old houses for restoration. I am aware of the unqualified builder trap - scarcely a house in our old road in SE England can be sold at "full" price, because none of them have building regs certs.
you mean English Heritage in London I think - I cant stand them, and have much sympathy! Want to preserve parts of England in aspic, I think.

I live in a new (3 years old) German house! It is great, well designed and very warm in the winter.

I was talking to neighbours the other day though who were saying that their dream would be to buy an old farm house and do it up so I don't think people are that much different here. Also, when you look at the rental market for flats here, stylish Altbauwohnungen are much more popular than new flats, even though they probably cost a fortune to heat.

What is attractive about new houses here is that they are actually designed with a view to modern living instead of those horrible pastiche estates you find all over Britain where the windows and doors are all much too small.

If you want old NN, investigate the Zwangsversteigerungen

ssandy, is that sales when a mortgage has fallen through? am not familiar with the term.

taipo -so agree about being designed for living.

Zwangsversteigerung is an auction where houses or flats are being auctioned off significantly under value because their owners cannot afford their mortgage, need to pay off debts, deceased without heirs, etc. They have been re-possessed by the banks or local council. Doesn't necessarily only apply to old property. You can pick up new houses or even land, too.

SSS is spot on, if you buy an old property you need to take a Bauingenieur or Handwerker (certified German builder, not to be compared to the English lot that just hangs around sipping tea).

TBH, most people in Germany prefer to live in newly built homes because a lot of regulations require certifications from authorities that the heating, structure and insulation conforms to certain standards. Old homes often have internal structural problems (badly insulated, damp, small, narrow, not enough light/air, broken or dripping plumbing, old and inefficient electric wires). After the war a lot of houses were shoddily built and are particularly ugly to look at. Even their quality and material isn't particularly good. Why buy an old property you have to spend so much £££ on to convert and get up to scratch to comply with certain standards?

For that price you could design your own house. Quaint, neat little houses fresh out of the Domesday book do not equal comfort, energy efficiency and space in German books...

From what I have seen in South Germany, the older houses are cheap because they are in such a poor state. People here in Germany do not appear to have the same expectation to pay for maintaining their property structurally, whilst at the same time, expect any property they move into to be in perfect condition.

My DH is german, and he explained it to me that a lot of houses here are inherited through the generations, eventually landing in the hands of offspring who are unable to afford the upkeep. They live in the house rather than sell it, but eventually the house becomes a ruin through neglect.

Around here, there are lots of old houses being sold for demolition; the house is shockingly run down, but the land is worth so much that a developer can stick at least two new houses on it and make a nice profit. That's two new, tiny houses, with bizarre floorplans and no proper garage or garden...but they sell because they are NEW!!!