The market in official numbers
Two official transaction-based measures matter: the Destatis Häuserpreisindex (federal statistics office) and GREIX (Kiel Institute, built from notarised sales in 24 cities). Latest readings:
| Indicator | Q1 2026 |
|---|
| Destatis house price index, y/y | +1.4% (provisional; +0.3% q/q). Q4 2025 revised down from +3.0% to +2.6% |
| Destatis: apartments in the top-7 cities, y/y | +0.3% — vs +3.6% in sparsely populated rural districts |
| Destatis: houses in the top-7 metros, y/y | +1.4% (sparsely populated rural districts −0.8%) |
| GREIX condominiums, y/y | +0.5% nominal — the weakest since the recovery began in summer 2024; −1.7% adjusted for inflation |
| GREIX single-family houses, y/y | +3.2% (+1.9% q/q) |
| GREIX multi-family buildings, y/y | −0.5% |
| Time on market (GREIX) | 90 days for apartments, 91 for houses — up on the prior quarter |
One thing Germany doesn't publish: a national price per square metre. Destatis and GREIX both publish indices — direction and speed, not a euro level. Any "average German €/m²" you see quoted is a portal asking-price figure. We show city asking prices below and label them as exactly that.
Prices area by area
Euro-per-m² levels below are Immowelt asking prices (July 2026 estimates) — what sellers want, not what buyers paid. Alongside: GREIX's official transaction momentum for condominiums, Q1 2026 vs Q4 2025.
| City | Apartments €/m² (asking) | ≈ USD/m²* | Houses €/m² (asking) | GREIX transactions, q/q (OFFICIAL) |
|---|
| Munich | €8,078 | $9,450 | €9,083 | Q1 2026 not yet published |
| Hamburg | €6,014 | $7,040 | €5,427 | Q1 2026 not yet published |
| Frankfurt am Main | €5,564 | $6,510 | €5,026 | −1.4% |
| Berlin | €4,981 | $5,830 | €4,855 | −0.3% |
| Cologne | €4,940 (all residential avg.) | $5,780 | — | 0.0% |
| Düsseldorf | €4,522 (all residential avg.) | $5,290 | — | +0.3% |
| Leipzig | €2,636 | $3,080 | €3,195 | +2.5% — strongest of the big cities |
| Stuttgart | — | — | — | −1.9% |
*USD column converts the apartment asking figure at €1 = $1.17 (8 July 2026). Asking prices: Immowelt estimates updated 1 July 2026 — ASKING, not sold prices. Cologne and Düsseldorf are Immowelt's overall residential averages (no apartment/house split available); no verified Stuttgart asking figure this pass. GREIX column: official notarised-transaction data, condominiums, Q1 2026.
The pattern: Leipzig is the value play — the cheapest big city on asking prices and the strongest on actual transactions. Munich costs three times Leipzig. Frankfurt's −1.4% transaction dip is a negotiating angle in a city with direct US and Canada flights.
Where our numbers come from
- Destatis — the official quarterly house price index, from transaction data; rebased to 2025 in June 2026.
- GREIX (Kiel Institute) — city-level price indices from notarised sales in 24 cities, back to 1960; free downloads at greix.de. One caveat: GREIX's price index is genuine transaction data, but its rent series is asking rents, not signed contracts.
- ImmoScout24 — Germany's largest listing portal; asking-price atlas and quarterly WohnBarometer.
- Immowelt — the second major portal (AVIV Group); monthly city and district asking €/m², used in our table above.
- vdp index — quarterly prices from actual mortgage-lending transactions of the Pfandbrief banks.
The honesty note: asking prices run above final sale prices, and they aren't quality-adjusted. In a market where GREIX says apartments are flat-to-falling, expect real negotiating room below the Immowelt numbers in our table.
What to watch
The heating law is being rewritten — again. The government plans to replace the 2024 heating law (GEG) with a new Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz (GMG), planned for 1 November 2026: the 65%-renewables heating mandate and the 30-year boiler-replacement rule would go, replaced by technology-open rules. The cabinet approved a draft in May 2026, but the Bundestag vote may slip to September — it is not yet law. If you're buying an older house with an oil or gas boiler, the legal pressure may ease, but CO2 pricing keeps running costs rising either way. Budget for the heating system before you fall in love with the price.
The rent brake runs to end-2029. The Mietpreisbremse was extended in mid-2025: in designated tight markets, new-lease rents may not exceed the local reference rent by more than 10%. Relevant if you plan to rent first (it protects you) or buy-to-let (it constrains you). Asking rents across the 37 GREIX cities averaged €14.36/m²/month in Q1 2026, the slowest annual rise since 2021; Berlin's median was €15.84/m² and fell 1.8% on the quarter.
Where the market is in the cycle. Prices fell from mid-2022 through early 2024, and the Bundesbank's indicator system finds the boom-era overvaluation largely worked off. The recovery since 2024 is real but losing pace in 2026 — houses outperforming, apartments negative in real terms. No FOMO required.
Mortgage rates: best 10-year fixed rates were around 3.39–3.5% in early July 2026, with typical offers ~3.3–4.0% effective (rate-comparison services, not official statistics). German banks lend reluctantly to non-resident or retired buyers and usually demand more equity.