Berliners are now paying the third-highest rental costs in Germany. Prices in the capital have overtaken Cologne and Stuttgart, according to a new assessment by housing platform Immoscout24.

Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin rents are most expensive in Germany

Immoscout24’s most recent “Wohnbarometer” (housing barometer) has found that Berlin is now the third most expensive German city for renters. 

Asking rents in the capital now sit at 14,19 euros per square meter. The German city where asking rents are currently the highest is Munich, at 20,97 euros per square meter and Frankfurt at 14,97 euros per square metre.

The most recent Wohnbarometer sees Berlin overtake Stuttgart and Cologne, where asking rents are 14,07 and 14,04 euros per square meter respectively. Across Germany, average asking rents sit at 8,54 euros per square meter, according to Immoscout24.

Asking rents for Berlin new builds break 20 euro threshold

The latest Wohnbarometer has seen Berlin rents surpass a new mark, with asking rents for new builds in the capital breaking the 20 euros per square meter threshold. Berliners moving into a new building can now expect to pay 20,16 euros per square metre, a 3,3 percent increase on the previous quarter.

Frankfurt remains below the 20 euro threshold but is still expensive, with new build asking rents at 18,90 euros per square meter, a 0,1 percent increase compared to last quarter. Munich already surpassed the 20 euros per square meter mark in 2020, with locals now expected to pay 25,80 euros per square meter. A recent analysis by Swiss bank UBS found that Frankfurt and Munich were the German cities where housing is the most overvalued. 

In a price-to-income assessment, UBS determined how many years a skilled service worker needs to work to be able to buy a 60-square-metre flat near the city centre - if they didn’t spend a single cent of their annual income. In Munich, the purchase would require eight years of work without any expenses, and in Frankfurt, it would require six years of work.

75 percent of Berlin tenants pay too much rent

In April 2024, the German government announced that it would extend its rent brake law until 2029. The rent cap was first introduced by the CDU-led grand coalition in 2015, to prevent rents in popular residential areas from going through the roof.

Under the law, if a landlord charges a tenant more than 10 percent more than the legal amount determined by the rent index (Mietspiegel), the tenant is entitled to a rent reduction and refund of any overcharged rent they have already paid.

The German Tenants Association (DMB) has pointed out that tenants who live in newly built properties rented for the first time after 2014, modernised properties, properties rented for less than a year, properties where the rental contract was signed before the law took effect and those previously rented at an illegally high price, are not protected. 

Conny, a company which helps tenants secure rent reductions, estimates that 75 percent of Berliners still pay too much rent due to loopholes in the existing rent brake law.

Thumb image credit: Mickis-Fotowelt / Shutterstock.com