German property market data

3.92 %

Mortgage rates are moving sideways

The effective interest rate on new housing loans to private households with an initial fixed-rate period of more than ten years stood at 3.92 % in July 2026 (provisional). It was 3.74 % in March 2026 and 3.98 % in June.

+1.9 %

vdp index: residential up, offices down

The property price index of the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks rose 1.3 % year on year in Q2 2026. Residential property gained 1.9 % (+0.3 % quarter on quarter); offices lost 1.2 %. Across the top-7 cities residential prices rose 2.1 % and new-letting rents 1.5 %. Nationally, new-letting rents for multi-family buildings rose 3.2 %.

By city

Hamburg

+3.8 %

Köln

+2.5 %

Frankfurt am Main

+2.4 %

Düsseldorf

+2.4 %

München

+2.3 %

Berlin

+1.6 %

Stuttgart

+0.7 %

+1.4 %

Residential prices are rising again — but not in the top-7 cities

The Federal Statistical Office's house price index was 1.4 % above the same quarter of 2025 in Q1 2026, and 0.3 % above the previous quarter. For condominiums the picture differs sharply by region.

Breakdown

Sparsely populated rural districts

+3.6 %

Independent cities outside the top-7

+2.9 %

The seven largest cities

+0.3 %

Densely populated rural districts

−0.4 %

+13.2 %

Building permits are picking up — but the flats arrive later

83,700 dwellings were approved between January and April 2026, 13.2 % — or 9,800 units — more than in the same period of 2025. April alone accounted for 20,200 permits (+9.2 %). Over the four months, multi-family buildings rose 14.7 % and two-family houses 22.9 %.

206,600

Housing completions at their lowest level since 2012

206,600 dwellings were completed in Germany in 2025 — 18.0 %, or 45,400 units, fewer than in 2024, and the lowest figure since 2012. The recent peak was 306,400 dwellings in 2020.

50,700 €

EU Blue Card: the 2026 salary thresholds

The EU Blue Card in 2026 requires a minimum gross salary of 50,700 euros a year. For shortage occupations and recent graduates the threshold is 45,934.20 euros gross, and in those cases the Federal Employment Agency must give its approval.

bis 2029

Rent cap extended to the end of 2029

On 26 June 2025 the Bundestag extended the Mietpreisbremse to the end of 2029; it would otherwise have expired on 31 December 2025. In the tight housing markets designated by the federal states, the rent on a new letting may not exceed the local reference rent by more than 10 %.