Germany » Rental Market

Germans living in Berlin are seemingly more inclined to rent property, making the city a good prospect for the landlords. Berlin is certainly an attractive proposition for the buy-to-let investor, due to the high proportion of Berliners who rent, rather than buy.

Consequently called "Zinshaeuser" (Rental homes with 8-20 Apartments or flats) are most attractive as investments in Germany. In Frankfurt they are very hard to get at all; in Duesseldorf, Hannover and Berlin this seems presently no problem. Most wanted is what we call “Altbau”; buildings that were constructed at the beginning of last century or even earlier and so are between 80-120 years old. If these houses are modernized, they are unique with their high rooms.

A modernized Altbau is also a very good rental property. Such houses are the most wanted ones on the market in Germany and their value increase is normally higher than that of modern or totally new buildings, just because they are very rare.

Buying prices range between 500.000, - Euro and 1.5-5 Million Euro for an 8-20 apartment house in the good dwelling place.

Rent houses are preferred by so-called "Aufteiler"; this being development companies that buy and divide such houses into individual condos so that the apartments can be sold as single units. On such houses as rental houses the investment return rate ranges between 6 and 8% per year usually.