More than half of German households rent — the highest share in the EU — and the rental system is built for long-term tenants, with strong protections and its own vocabulary. Buying is open to foreigners with zero restrictions. Here are the real numbers for both.
Last verified: 8 July 2026The GREIX index (Kiel Institute) is built from asking rents pooled across multiple listing platforms and adjusted with a hedonic method to strip out mix effects — a far larger, more consistent sample than eyeballing a few ads, though it is not signed-lease (transaction) data. The Kiel Institute separately publishes a transaction-price comparison; where the two diverge, the underlying report is the more precise source. Q3 2025 figures for new lets, per square metre cold rent:
| City | New-lease rent (Q3 2025) |
|---|---|
| Munich | €22.96/m² |
| Frankfurt | €17.55/m² |
| Stuttgart | €16.11/m² |
| Berlin | €15.82/m² |
| Hamburg | €15.62/m² |
| Cologne | €15.21/m² |
| Leipzig | €10.22/m² (Q4 2025) |
| Dresden | €9.89/m² (Q2 2025) |
Sitting tenants pay far less: the national average for existing tenancies is around €9.25/m² (market aggregate, early 2026 — indicative). That gap is why Germans don't move often, and why the newcomer pays the top of the market. An 80m² apartment in Berlin at new-let rates: roughly €1,265/month cold, before utilities.
| Term | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Kaltmiete | "Cold rent" — the base rent. This is the number in listings and in the table above. |
| Warmmiete | Cold rent plus building costs and usually heating. Typically 20–30% above cold rent. Budget on this number, not Kaltmiete. |
| Kaution | Deposit — capped by law at 3 months' cold rent, payable in three instalments if you ask. |
| Mietspiegel | The official local reference-rent index. It caps what landlords can charge and how fast rents can rise on existing leases. |
| Mietpreisbremse | The "rent brake": in designated tight markets, new-lease rents may not exceed the Mietspiegel reference by more than 10% (with exceptions, e.g. new builds). Extended to 2029. |
| Wohnungsgeberbestätigung | Landlord's confirmation form — you need it for Anmeldung (address registration), which everything else hangs off. |
There are no restrictions on foreign buyers — no residency requirement, no extra stamp duty for non-residents, nothing. Residential prices rose 3.2% in 2025, the first annual increase since 2022 (Destatis). What catches North Americans out is the transaction cost stack:
Destatis and GREIX transaction data, city asking prices from Leipzig €2,636/m² to Munich €8,078/m² — every figure labelled.
SCHUFA, the application dossier, and how newcomers without German credit history compete.
Notary process, financing as a foreigner, and the state-by-state transfer tax table.
Nebenkosten, heating, electricity and the broadcast fee — turning a listing price into a monthly total.
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