How to find an apartment in Germany: with or without an agency

Is it hard to find an apartment in Germany?

In the cities where the jobs are, yes. Two numbers show it.

The first is the asking rent. The immowelt Mietkompass tracks existing flats advertised on its portal. On 1 October 2026 it gave the asking rents below, with the change since 1 January 2026 (immowelt, 1 Oct 2026).

City	Rent per m2	Since 1 Jan
Munich	EUR 21.65	+2.8%
Frankfurt	EUR 17.12	+4.7%
Berlin	EUR 14.63	+1.8%
Germany, average	EUR 10.83	+2.1%

The second is vacancy. The CBRE-empirica index counted a market-active vacancy rate of 0.1% in Munich and in Frankfurt at the end of 2024, against 2.2% in Germany as a whole (empirica regio, 16 Dec 2025). It gave no figure for Berlin.

Asking rents are what landlords advertise, not what sitting tenants pay. The rules on the deposit, the rent brake and broker fees are in our guide to renting a flat in Germany. This guide is about the search itself.

How does the search work, step by step?

1. Set a budget and an area. Use the asking rents above as a starting point, and remember that the deposit may be up to three months of cold rent.
2. Prepare your file before you open a portal. The next section lists what to include.
3. Search several channels at once. The City of Munich advises starting as soon as possible and, if you can, being in the city when you begin (City of Munich, read 7 Oct 2026).
4. Answer new listings fast and ask for a viewing.
5. View the flat and ask what costs come on top of the cold rent.
6. Send your file and wait for the landlord’s choice.
7. Read the lease and the deposit terms before you sign.
8. Collect the keys and the landlord’s confirmation of move-in. You need it to register within two weeks. See registering your address in Germany.

Which portals do people use?

WG-Gesucht lists shared flats, rooms and apartments across Germany (WG-Gesucht, read 7 Oct 2026). immowelt and ImmoScout24 are property portals; the immowelt rent report above is built from the flats on its own portal. The City of Munich also points to the housing sections of Munich’s newspapers, university and college notice boards, short-term rental centres called Mitwohnzentralen and a furnished-flat provider for short stays.

A flat advertised by a broker on the landlord’s order costs you no broker fee. If you hire someone to search for you, the fee rules change, and the next sections explain how.

What file do landlords expect?

The German consumer centres publish material for first-time tenants. A teaching module from the Verbraucherzentrale NRW, dated 2018, says that in many cities it is now usual to bring an application folder to the viewing (Verbraucherzentrale NRW, 2018):

• a short cover letter;
• a Schufa report (Germany’s credit report);
• proof of income, with data the landlord does not need blacked out;
• a guarantee, for example from a parent, for students and trainees.

The same material lists what a landlord may not ask about: private matters such as political views, party, union or tenants’ association membership, pregnancy, sexual orientation, health, disability and ethnic origin. It says untrue answers to such questions carry no penalty, while false statements about income, earlier tenancies and the number of people moving in can justify immediate termination.

The module is seven years old and written for young people, so use it as a guide, not as legal advice. We did not find a current official source on what a landlord accepts from a newcomer who has no Schufa file or only a foreign credit report. Ask the landlord or the agent early which papers they will take.

What does a home-search agency do, step by step?

The packages we read list similar steps. Put together, they run like this.

1. Briefing. You give your budget, area, move-in date and household. At Archer, the package begins with online consulting and a review of your paperwork (Archer, read 7 Oct 2026).
2. Shortlist. The consultant searches and pre-selects. Local-Worldwide lists apartment search and pre-selection in its housing packages (Local-Worldwide, read 7 Oct 2026).
3. Viewings. The agency books them, and sometimes comes along and interprets. Your Berlin names the steps Flat Selection and Meet Your Flat (Your Berlin, read 7 Oct 2026).
4. Application. Archer lists application management and Your Berlin a Flat Application step.
5. Lease. Contract review, negotiation and signing support are listed at Archer and Local-Worldwide.
6. Handover. A handover consultation or protocol, and in some packages utility set-up.

A package differs from another in how many of these steps it includes and how many viewings it covers: five or ten at Your Berlin, up to three or six at Local-Worldwide. Your Berlin’s Startup package at EUR 990, for example, lists registration only, not a flat search.

What does it cost, and who pays?

Published home-search packages we read on 7 October 2026 ran from EUR 990 (Archer, including VAT) to EUR 2,790 (Your Berlin, ten viewings, VAT not stated). Prices, VAT and what moves a quote are in what a relocation agency costs in Germany.

Who pays is a legal question as well. A broker may charge a searcher only if the flat was found solely because of the searcher’s order, and at most two months’ rent plus VAT (WoVermRG section 2, section 3). Whether an agency’s package fee is such a commission depends on how the service is built, and we did not research it. Ask in writing how the fee is structured and what you owe if you find no flat.

What changes between Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt?

• Munich. Highest asking rent of the three (EUR 21.65 per m2) and 0.1% vacancy. Start early, and expect to need a ready file.
• Frankfurt. Rents rose 4.7% between 1 January and 1 October 2026, the fastest of the three, and vacancy was 0.1%.
• Berlin. The lowest of the three (EUR 14.63) and the smallest rise (1.8%). We have no vacancy figure for Berlin, so we do not call it easy.

We did not find a source for how many applicants a typical listing gets in any of these cities, so we give no number.

When is an agency worth paying for?

It tends to pay off when several of these are true:

• you start on a fixed date and have only weeks to find a flat;
• you cannot travel for viewings, or do not speak German;
• you are moving to Munich or Frankfurt, where vacancy is 0.1%;
• your employer will not pay for a search service, and you value your time above the fee.

It tends not to when your employer already provides a relocation service, when you can spend weeks on the ground, or when you only need the legal rules, which our renting guide covers for free. If you hire one, choose it with the checklist in how to choose a relocation agency in Germany. For the first weeks after the keys, see settling-in services in Germany and moving to Germany: your first 90 days.

What we could not source

We did not find official data on how many people apply for a typical flat, how long a search takes, or what a landlord accepts when you have no Schufa file. We did not research subletting or registering your address in a sublet. The consumer-centre material on application folders dates from 2018. For any of these, ask a local tenants’ association or the registration office in your city.

Want help with the search? Tell us what you need and we pass your request to one agency that fits your city.