ᐅ KfW financing – is it necessary or not?

Created on: 24 Jun 2020 11:13
Y
Ybias78
My question about building a new KfW 55 or better house: What exactly does it mean? Yesterday, I spoke with the managing director of a public construction company, and he advised me not to build a KfW house.

a) You would need a building supervisor (who is also specialized in this field).
b) If you insulate the house well, etc., the additional costs are low.

Furthermore, he recommended using a gas boiler + solar including battery instead of an air-to-water heat pump + solar including battery. The initial costs are much lower, and you will never recover the higher acquisition costs.

I am a bit confused. I originally planned to build at least a KfW 55 house.

For your information, our plot is fully developed, and a gas connection is available.
N
nordanney
26 Jun 2020 17:23
Musketier schrieb:

I think the resale value is a completely overrated argument.
Not entirely.
Whether a house is rated KfW 55 or Energie Ultra doesn’t really matter to most people. But everyone will look at the actual energy consumption. And that’s something every builder should keep in mind. I know plenty of KfW 70 (which no longer exists) houses that are cheaper to heat than a modern KfW 40 house, which was just cleverly calculated but has an air-to-air heat pump causing huge expenses.
Musketier26 Jun 2020 17:42
Exactly.
For our KfW 70 house, I have heating costs of around 60€ per month. Over 10 years, that's 7,500€. Where is the huge price difference for resale compared to KfW 40 or KfW 55 supposed to come from? That's peanuts compared to the house prices and the related financing rates. Regardless of the classification, these have all been low-energy houses for years.
P
parcus
26 Jun 2020 17:45
@pagoni2020

Questioning why something is not cost-effective and suddenly should be just because policy changes a parameter... and questioning why a difference in the building envelope, and thus a greater heating demand, should make no difference. Some might even suggest that only what few people would otherwise buy gets subsidized. That’s why I deliberately use electric cars as an example.

At the latest, the annual performance factor (seasonal COP) values provide the facts here. For photovoltaics, no further efficiency improvements are expected because space research has already covered this thoroughly for a long time. Lithium batteries are completely excluded from this consideration.

My recommendation depends first on whether there is a gas connection at all, what type of heat pump with which annual performance factor is to be used, and what subsidies are involved.

Otherwise, with the limited flexibility at KfW55 standard, I would always lean toward the most optimized building envelope possible, because current heating technology has too short a service life to last long. A look at China, which is about five years ahead in this respect, shows what will be possible in the future with hydrogen.

@Musketier

Forget about heating costs—those are sales figures. The decisive factor here is the space heating load.
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nordanney
26 Jun 2020 17:53
parcus schrieb:

Forget about the heating costs, those are seller estimates; the room heating load is what really matters here.
When buying an existing property, I am only interested in the actual consumption.
Musketier26 Jun 2020 17:53
parcus schrieb:

@Musketier

Forget about heating costs; those are seller’s claims. The heating load of the rooms is what really matters here.

You were never looking for a resale property, right?
I hardly believe the seller will have the heating load calculated for you when there are still 5 other couples waiting outside.
H
hampshire
26 Jun 2020 17:58
pagoni2020 schrieb:

What, in your opinion, would be the logically sensible recommendation for a homebuilder in 2020?
Make confident decisions and build the way you want instead of stretching yourself to qualify for subsidies. Build one or two sizes smaller than you could. Focus on the quality of life during the years you will live in the house rather than building for a hypothetical future buyer. Stay relaxed, hire local craftsmen, and enjoy the construction process. Simply don’t let others stress you out about what “people” do nowadays, while remaining interested in technology and methods.
It’s really not difficult.