Renting a flat in Germany as a newcomer

How tight the market is

The immowelt rent report says that in the big cities many people compete for a limited supply of flats. Two numbers show it.

The first is the asking rent. The immowelt Mietkompass for the third quarter of 2026 tracks the cold rent of a standard flat (75 m2, three rooms) in the 15 largest cities from the listings on its portal. On 1 October 2026 it gave these asking rents (immowelt, 1 Oct 2026):

City	Asking rent per m2	Change since 1 Jan 2026
Munich	EUR 21.65	+2.8%
Frankfurt	EUR 17.12	+4.7%
Stuttgart	EUR 15.21	+2.4%
Berlin	EUR 14.63	+1.8%
Düsseldorf	EUR 14.18	+2.4%
Hamburg	EUR 13.98	+4.8%

For comparison, the national average asking rent in the same report was EUR 10.83 per m2. These are asking rents for existing flats, not what a sitting tenant pays. Our arithmetic for the report’s 75 m2 standard flat: about EUR 1,624 a month cold in Munich, EUR 1,284 in Frankfurt and EUR 1,097 in Berlin.

The second number 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% for Germany as a whole (empirica regio, 31 Dec 2024). A rate that low means few flats are free at any one time.

The rent brake

In some cities the law limits the rent a landlord may ask for a new tenancy. Section 556d of the Civil Code says that in areas where a state government has declared the housing market tight, the rent at the start of the tenancy may not exceed the local comparison rent by more than 10 percent (BGB section 556d). A state ordinance that declares such an area has to end by 31 December 2029 at the latest.

Two exemptions can apply to the flat you are looking at (BGB section 556f):

• a flat that was first used and let after 1 October 2014;
• the first letting after a comprehensive modernisation.

So ask the landlord two things before you sign: is the address in an area with a rent brake, and does either exemption apply? We did not find an official, current list of the designated areas, so check your state’s ordinance or ask a local tenants’ association.

The deposit

A landlord may ask for a deposit of at most three times the monthly rent, not counting operating costs (BGB section 551). You may pay a cash deposit in three equal monthly instalments, the first one when the tenancy starts and the others with the next rents.

The landlord has to invest the money with a bank, apart from their own assets, at the usual savings rate. The interest belongs to you and adds to the deposit. A clause that is worse for the tenant than these rules is void. If a landlord asks for four months, the clause does not hold.

Who pays a broker

German law follows the “orderer” principle. Under section 2 of the Housing Brokerage Act, a broker may not demand a fee from the person who is looking for a flat, unless the broker got the order from the landlord only because of the contract with the searcher (WoVermRG section 2). In plain words: if the landlord hired the broker, the landlord pays. If you hired the broker to find a flat for you, you pay.

Section 3 caps the fee at two months’ rent plus VAT and limits what else a broker may charge (WoVermRG section 3). So a broker who lists a flat for the landlord cannot send you the bill.

This is also why home-search agencies bill the searcher: you give the order. Home-search packages with a published private-client price, read on 7 October 2026, ran from EUR 990 for Archer’s home search package, VAT included, to EUR 2,790 for Your Berlin’s Premium package with 10 viewings (Archer, Your Berlin). Your Berlin’s EUR 990 Startup package lists registration at the citizens’ office only, so it is not a home-search price. Most agencies do not publish a price, so ask what is included before you pay.

Before you sign: five questions

1. Is the flat in a rent-brake area, and is it exempt?
2. Is the deposit at most three months of cold rent, and may I pay it in three instalments?
3. Who hired the broker, and what is the fee in writing?
4. Which costs are on top of the cold rent?
5. Will the landlord sign the move-in confirmation for my registration? You need it within two weeks of moving in (BMG section 19; see our guide to registering your address).

What we could not source

We did not find an official source on which documents landlords may ask for, or on how a credit report from another country is treated, so this guide does not say. Ask the landlord or agent early which papers they want, and ask a local tenants’ association what a landlord may lawfully request.