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RENTING

The most expensive (and cheapest) cities in Germany to rent a room

For those looking to find a room in a flatshare in Germany, it can be helpful to know which cities have higher prices, and where it's more affordable.

Published: 21 June 2022 16:29 CEST
An aerial view of flats in Munich.
An aerial view of flats in Munich. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Sina Schuldt

Due to rising demand and low supplies, the cost of renting a flat in some German cities has risen dramatically in recent years. 

For that reason, many people decide to enter into a flatshare – known as a Wohngemeinschaft or WG in Germany. Lots of students, trainees on apprenticeships and people who are not staying in Germany for a long time may also decide to go down the WG route. 

In view of the difficult housing market in Germany right now, however, renting a room can still be pricey depending on where it is. 

Housing market analyst Empirica carried out research on the cost of renting a room ahead of the university summer semester in Germany which began in April. 

Using several thousand rental advertisements for shared flats, they looked at warm rents (the base rent as well as additional costs) for an unfurnished room between 10 and 30 square metres. 

READ ALSO: Six confusing things about renting a flat in Germany 

The group found that shared flats were 22 percent more expensive in 2022 than in the 2017 summer semester.

“In the university locations as a whole, the standard price for the current semester is €421 and thus 22 percent higher than in the summer semester 2017 – or €19 higher than in the summer semester 2021,” said the market analyst.

Colourful flats in Berlin.

Colourful flats in Berlin. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Wolfgang Kumm

Where do rooms cost the most – and the least?

The standard price for an unfurnished room in a shared flat is highest in Munich – at €650 per month. It’s perhaps unsurprising since the Bavarian capital is known as one of the most expensive places to rent a home in Germany – and even Europe. A recent ranking on the cost of living by ECA placed the German cities of Munich (16th) and Frankfurt (19th) in the top 20 most expensive cities in Europe. 

Munich is followed by Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin where a WG room will set you back about €500 per month, according to the study. And in Cologne, renters there face paying around €490 per month in rent to live in a shared flat. 

READ ALSO: Revealed – how much it costs to rent a room in a German university town 

The most affordable offers for a WG room are currently in Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt) where it costs €259 per month to stay in a flatshare and Halle where it’s €260 per month.

The graph by Statista below shows the most expensive and most affordable cities this year, according to the study. 

Infografik: Wo WG-Mieten besonders teuer/günstig sind | Statista

Source: Statista

Other more affordable cities are Erfurt in Thuringia (€300 per month), Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia (€305) and Leipzig in Saxony (€320).

Vocabulary

Cheap/affordable – günstig

More affordable price – günstigerer Preis 

More expensive – teurer 

Unfurnished – unmöbliert 

Housing market – (der) Wohnungsmarkt 

We’re aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

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PROPERTY

Germany to subsidise landlords who offer affordable homes

Landlords who rent out properties for less than the market rate are set to get lucrative tax breaks in future, according to new plans to boost social housing in Germany.

Published: 5 June 2024 11:34 CEST
Germany to subsidise landlords who offer affordable homes

As the government battles to keep rents affordable in Germany’s ongoing housing crisis, a scheme to boost social housing is set to be reintroduced. 

Echoing a previous initiative that was scrapped in the early 1990s, the non-profit housing law aims to subsidise companies that provide affordable living space on a long-term basis. 

“The non-profit housing scheme is back!,” Housing Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) told the Stuttgarter Zeitung on Wednesday.

“I am delighted that this important project from the coalition agreement has been successfully implemented.”

According to the regional newspaper, the new instrument is part of the annual tax bill that is set to be voted on in cabinet in Wednesday.

READ ALSO: Can converting offices create housing in Germany?

If the law passes unamended, social enterprises, associations and charitable foundations would be able to provide subsidised housing and benefit from extensive tax breaks. 

To qualify for financial support, landlords must offer their properties permanently below the market rent and make these affordable properties available for people on lower incomes. 

The income limits have been set so that around 60 percent of households in Germany will be able to benefit from the new non-profit housing scheme, said Geywitz. The government expects at least 100 companies to take advantage of the subsidies and provide affordable living space for 105,000 tenants.

“In addition to social housing construction, we are creating another strong pillar for more affordable housing in our country with the public housing benefit,” Geywitz. “This is a good day for all tenants.”

Housing shortages

Tackling Germany’s housing crisis was one of the key manifesto pledges of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) when they became the largest party in government in 2021.

In the coalition pact of the SPD, Greens and Free Democrats (FDP), the parties promised to build 400,000 new homes a year, with 100,000 affordable homes among them. 

So far, however, the government has repeatedly failed to meet its targets, blaming sluggish construction rates on high building costs and a lack of skilled labour. 

READ ALSO: Why are Berlin rents soaring by 20 percent when there’s a rent brake?

In 2022, around 271,000 of the planned 400,000 new homes were built, with only 20,000 of these earmarked for social housing. 

According to research carried out by the Pestel Institute in Hannover, Germany currently needs around 800,000 additions homes to keep up with demand. 

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