One of the biggest challenges when moving to another country is to find the right apartment or house to life – your new home! And this is indeed not a small challenge!
First of all, the German housing market is a highly competitive one. There are flats in the metropolitan areas which have interested parties of 200 and more – for 1 flat!
Please note: the German housing market is not a furnished housing market. Over 95% of all offers are unfurnished real estates, unfurnished meaning completely empty e.g. no built-in closets or lightening or curtains!

What kind of real estate is right for me?

In Germany you can choose between a variety of options when it comes to housing: furnished or unfurnished real estates for rent, for sale, flats, houses, on the country side, in the city, in the outskirts – every home has its advantages and peculiarities.
In Germany the people who live in the country side usually choose to buy a house, in the city it´s more common to rent a flat. This is in particular connected to the price differences, real estates in the country side are way cheaper because the square meter price is lower.
The average square meter price for a rental flat in Germany is 6-8€/m² , in cities like Hamburg or Berlin you will easily have to pay 13-15€/m². Projected on a flat for two persons e.g. 60m² in a popular area in Hamburg you will have to pay a basic cold rent of 780€ which easily sums up to 980€ basic warm rent, including all side costs.

Please find below how further renting costs for an unfurnished apartment are usually composed:

  • Kaltmiete (Basic cold rent)
  • Betriebskosten (fixed additional costs, e.g. garbage collection, chimney sweeper, house cleaning, house & fire insurance, taxes, etc.)
  • Nebenkosten (usage connected additional costs, e.g. heating, electricity & water, telephone & internet flat rate)
  • Additional household costs required by the German Law: Rundfunkbeitrag (mandatory public fee for TV and Radio usage) 18€ p.m.
  • garage/parking
  • plus some landlords recommend and sometimes even require private liability insurance as well as household insurance.

For German standards it is normal to spend approx. 1/3 of your net income on the rent for your flat.

How to get your favorite flat

As landlords may choose from a large number of interested parties for their flats, you will need to make an application with a lot of personal information in it. The application usually consists of the following components:

  • copy of passport of all moving in persons
  • self-disclosure
  • proof of income
  • statement of your former landlord
  • SCHUFA-information

This multitude of personal data may be perplexing at first but in Germany it´s completely normal and conform with German data definition. This flood of documents and information that you need to give may be some kind of overwhelming for you – get in contact with us, we are specialized in the German housing market and will be glad to support you with your personal home search!

Rent Deposit for real estates

Please calculate up to 3 monthly basic cold rents as rent deposit for the flat, the payment of this deposit has to be arranged before the handover date of the apartment. Keep in mind that you will need to pay the amount of money for the deposit plus the first rent at once so make sure to have adequate financial reserves before starting your home search.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Image: atlas relocation fotoshooting Stefanie Luberichs