How much does the average house cost to buy in Germany?

Question

How much does the average house cost in Germany? (A house in a good area). I'm not German but I'm thinking about investing in property internationally in the future and I'd like to own a house in Germany.

Answer 1

What kind of house do you think of? In which area? One family, two family, detached, semi-detached, urban or rural, old or new? Do you plan to own and inhabit it yourself or put it up for rent? In which state?

Make these details clear and turn to a specialist who can exactly tell you about the average price, and, most important, taxes.

If you want to make a bargain, get informed about houses on auction ("Zwangsversteigerung"). Might be a bargain, but you'll need an agent in Germany who knows all the laws. Don't try to do it on your own.

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edit:

subst99, I don't agree with you that German law doesn't provide enough protection for the landlord. There was, as a matter of fact, TOO MUCH protection for them, so the law has been amended to better protect consumers, i.e. people who rent a flat. Maybe you've gotten something wrong here: I thought we were talking about houses, not individual flats. If I'd buy a house, I'd rent it to someone who, in turn, takes care to re-rent it, and of all the administrative stuff, preferably at a fixed annual price. And then business laws will apply.

Answer 2

First of all I would not buy property in Germany - German law sucks. Tenants have way too many rights. If they choose not to pay rent - that will be your problem. Then the EURO is very strong right now - another reason why I would not buy property in Germany.

In Germany they have a problem with a declining population - EastGermany for instance has way too many appartments. In Berlin alone there are 200,000 idle appartments since nobody wants to live there.

Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Freiburg are strong property markets - Hamburg is Germany´s boomtown.

www.falkenstein-gardens.de´

Here a one-bedroom appartments costs 215,000 EUROS -340,000 US Dollars.

Answer 3

Here in South Bavaria it starts from approx 225.000 € to 350.000 € (however, it is open ended) including ground and the house itself.

Answer 4

Prices differ very much from region to region.

In the south, real estate is more expensive than in the north. In regions with high unemployment and population decrease (most of east Germany, for example), houses are extremely cheap, because there's no-one there to buy or rent them. Buying such a house would be like burning money.

Heidelberg is one of the most expensive areas in Germany. Newly-built semi-detached houses (without a real garden or anything else) in a town close to Heidelberg are currently sold for over 2300 Euros per square metre of living space.

Investing in one object is a pretty risky business - I strongly recommend to invest in investment fonds instead; you can chose the investment fond depending on its business model, and simply pick one that invests in European or German real estate [check whether they invest in residential buildings or office buildings, or both; that are different business models and need to be assessed differently].

Independently of the question, whether you invest in a single piece of real estate in the Euro zone, or in a Euro-investment fond, or an investment fond in your home country that invests the money in the Euro-zone...

... at the end of the day you will automatically loose money the minute your currency starts to gain value against the Euro!

If, inspite of all these caveats, you are still detemined to buy German property, my brother has a 60000 Euro apartment he wants to get rid of... ;-)

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EDIT:

Alwin's mentioning of the law just reminded me of a further piece of warning you need (since, if you buy a house, you will have to rent it to someone): German law currently protects the person renting real estate too much, and the owner too little; that starts with the landlord having to give the person renting six-months-notice if he wants him out. If the other guy wants to move out, he has only to comply to a three-months-notice policy. (not THAT important, but it serves as an illustrating example for the general lack of balance) Not being present in Germany makes it very difficult for you to pursue a lawsuit in case something goes wrong. You'd have to have a permanent contract with an agent who looks after your property and takes care of administrative things - that'll cost money, too.

So, far less trouble with an investment fond....

Answer 5

It depends on the region, the more pricier ones can be in the major cities, Bavaria, North-Rhine Westfalia, Baden-Wurttemburg, etc. Houses are also cheaper in East Germany. The most expensive place to buy a house would probably be in Munich. I'm guessing it would be several hundred (~200-400) per square feet there. In far Eastern Germany however (ie. Frankfurt an der Oder) can be as little as 100 Euros a square foot.

Answer 6

depends, my appartment  (near frankfurt/main) cost as much as a whole house with garden  in way up north germany (niedersachen areas).

you cant really compare, real bad areas, dont have houses,

you should normal just rent an appartment, and then find out yourself, dont by blind.

if you want to take it as an investment,  go to a german bank and ask for informations.

....listen to Alwin / he knows!

Answer 7

I paid 236,000.oo Euro for a row House in the Frankfurt area