What a relocation agency costs in Germany (2026)

What do German relocation agencies charge a private client?

Most do not say. The Berlin Life’s list of relocation companies notes that many firms do not publish fees and prefer to discuss them case by case (The Berlin Life, updated 2 Jun 2026). Eight agencies do publish prices. We read six of the pages on 7 October 2026. Two pages, Get In Expat and Transparent Hiring, would not load for our tools that day, so their prices carry the date of our first reading, 5 October 2026.

Here are the main prices, by service. Every figure is in euros and comes from the agency’s own page. “VAT included” and “VAT excluded” refer to the 19% VAT; “VAT not stated” means the page does not say.

Home search

• Archer: from 990, VAT included.
• Your Berlin: Basic 1,990 plus 90 per viewing, Advanced 2,390 with 5 viewings, Premium 2,790 with 10 viewings; VAT not stated.
• Local-Worldwide: 910 for a short stay without viewings, 1,260 with up to 3 viewings, 2,285 long-term with up to 6 visits; VAT not stated.
• Relocraft: 1,699 per employee for an apartment search, 1,075 for a guided furnished rental; VAT excluded.
• Get In Expat (read 5 Oct 2026): starter package 999, all-inclusive from 2,299; VAT not recorded.

Settling-in and single admin services

• Local-Worldwide: settling-in package 590 for one person, 650 for a couple, 710 for a family; VAT not stated.
• Archer: from 110 for authority services such as registration, bank account and health insurance application; VAT included.
• Relosophy: 145 for registration, 145 for a bank account, 85 per insurance; VAT not stated.
• Relocraft: 140 for registration and tax ID, 150 for a bank account, 80 for insurance selection, per employee; VAT excluded.

School search

• Archer: from 530; VAT included.
• Relosophy: 345 per child; VAT not stated.
• Relocraft: 350 for the first child; VAT excluded.
• Local-Worldwide: child package 875 per child; VAT not stated. Mildenberger shows packages from 500 next to a schooling package.

Permit support

• Archer: from 830; VAT included.
• Local-Worldwide: 1,070 for one person, 1,190 for a couple, 1,320 for a family; VAT not stated.
• Relosophy: 895; VAT not stated.
• Relocraft: 625 for work permit and visa, 1,025 without a recognised degree, per employee; VAT excluded.
• Transparent Hiring (read 5 Oct 2026): plans of 990, 1,790 and 2,490.

By the hour

• Archer: 110; VAT included.
• Relocraft: 85; VAT excluded.

Two things to read carefully. First, Your Berlin’s 990 package is called Startup and its page lists registration at the citizens’ office only, so it is not a home search. Second, the Mildenberger page shows packages “starting at 500” next to a schooling package, so we list it under school search and do not read it as a general starting price.

What is in a home-search price?

It differs. Archer’s home-search package lists online consulting, a paperwork review, viewing arrangements, accompaniment and interpretation at viewings, application management, contract review, signing coordination and a handover consultation. Local-Worldwide’s long-term package lists up to six property visits, lease negotiation and utility set-up. Your Berlin’s tiers differ in the number of viewings: five in Advanced and ten in Premium, against EUR 90 for each extra viewing in Basic.

So the real question is how many viewings you can expect and whether the lease and the handover are inside the price. How home search works step by step, and when it pays off, is in how to find an apartment in Germany.

Which price models exist?

The pages we read show four.

• Fixed fee per service. Relosophy and Relocraft list each task with its own price, from a registration to a driving licence conversion.
• Packages. Your Berlin, Local-Worldwide, Get In Expat and Archer sell bundles, some priced for one person, a couple or a family.
• Hourly. Archer lists EUR 110 an hour including VAT, bookable in 30-minute remote or 60-minute in-person blocks. Relocraft lists EUR 85 an hour excluding VAT. At 19%, our arithmetic puts that at about EUR 101 including VAT, so the two hourly rates are close.
• Success fee on the rent. None of the eight pages shows one. The law caps what a broker may charge a searcher: a fee is due only if a lease results from the broker’s work, and it may not exceed two months’ rent plus VAT (WoVermRG section 2, section 3).

What moves the price?

• Viewings. Your Berlin’s Advanced tier, with five viewings, costs EUR 2,390 and its Premium tier, with ten, EUR 2,790: EUR 400 more.
• Household size. Local-Worldwide charges EUR 590, 650 or 710 for settling-in help for one person, a couple or a family, and EUR 1,070, 1,190 or 1,320 for permit support.
• Children. School and kindergarten help is priced per child at Relosophy and Local-Worldwide.
• Length of stay. Local-Worldwide prices short-stay housing at EUR 910 and long-term housing at EUR 2,285.
• VAT. A price excluding 19% VAT is about 19% higher at the till. Compare like with like.
• Scope. A bundle that looks cheap may hold one service only, as the Startup package shows.

Who pays: you or your employer?

We found no source on how often employers pay or what they pay, and no corporate price list. One price list, Relocraft’s, is quoted per employee and excludes VAT, which suggests it is written for employers, but its page does not say who may book. Before you book, ask your employer whether it has a relocation policy. If it does, ask who chooses the agency and who signs the quote.

The broker rule matters for a different reason. A broker may charge a searcher only if the flat was found solely because of the searcher’s order (WoVermRG section 2). Whether an agency’s package fee falls under that rule 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 no lease results.

May an agency give legal advice on your permit?

Not on its own. Legal services in a single case need a lawyer or another permitted provider (RDG section 3), and other businesses may help only as an ancillary service (RDG section 5). So a permit price usually pays for organisation and accompaniment, and a partner lawyer handles the legal part. Ask who that lawyer is and whether the price includes the lawyer’s fee.

What to ask before you pay

1. Is the price for one person or the whole household, and does it include VAT?
2. How many viewings are included, and what does each extra one cost?
3. Is registration inside the price, and does the agency come to the appointment?
4. What happens if no flat is found, and is any part of the fee refunded?
5. Who is the named consultant, and who is the lawyer for permit questions?
6. What is not included: translations, cleaning, handover?

Our how to choose a relocation agency in Germany guide adds how to check an agency’s memberships and what a red flag looks like. For the admin steps the money buys, see settling-in services in Germany.

What we could not source

We found no price list for corporate packages and no source on who usually pays. Two of the eight price pages could not be read again on 7 October, so the Get In Expat and Transparent Hiring figures carry the date of our first reading, 5 October 2026. The Relosophy page marked most items as sold out when we read it, so check that a service is on offer before you plan around its price. We do not give an average, because eight price lists are not a market. A third-party guide to Berlin agencies names its own ranges; we leave them out because we could not trace them to price pages.

If you want quotes for your move, tell us what you need and we pass your request to one agency that fits your city and services.