Real estate prices are on the rise again, but some financial experts suggest that now is a good time to buy a home in Germany. So how much do you need to earn to purchase a house or apartment here?
Germany is notoriously a nation of renters.
With more than half (52.8 percent) of residents living in rental accommodation in 2024, according to Germany’s statistical office, it has the highest proportion of renters of all EU nations by a significant margin.
But home prices dipped slightly between 2022 and the end of 2024, and while they have begun to rise again recently, there is evidence to suggest that now is a decent time to buy a house in Germany.
For example, the Interhyp-IW affordability index – published by the brokerage firm Interhyp and the German Economic Institute (IW) – looking at figures from the German housing market in April 2025 – suggests that home ownership affordability has recovered noticeably. The report points to a period of declining interest rates combined with income growth, as well as stagnating or falling real estate prices in some cases, as having improved the affordability of home ownership.
Still, ‘improved affordability’ metrics on paper and actually being able to buy a home on a regular monthly income are two different things. So how much do you need to earn to buy a home in Germany?
How much loan can you afford?
Assuming you don’t have a few hundred thousand euros just stashed away somewhere, your salary (or your combined salary with your spouse / partner) is the factor that will have the most influence over exactly how much home can afford.
The general rule of thumb in Germany is that your monthly payments on a loan (or mortgage) should not exceed 40 percent of your net monthly salary (netto), or roughly 30 percent of your gross monthly salary (brutto). While this rule of thumb may sound a bit like conservative financial advice rather than a limiting factor, you’d have a hard time finding a bank that would give you a mortgage at an amount that would exceed that salary-based limit.
To give an idea, an article in German news outlet Focus gives the following example: with a total monthly salary of €2,000, you can afford to pay back up to €630 monthly, which equates to a total loan of around €139,000.
Along similar lines, this article on the Das Finanzen website suggests that with a net monthly salary of €3,000, you could feasibly be eligible for a loan up to around €270,000.
Of course these numbers will vary a bit depending on your personal credit history (or your Schufa), any additional equity you can demonstrate, and any additional expenses you already have.
If you want to crunch the numbers for yourself, you can get an idea with this loan-budget calculator, which allows you to factor in kids and any additional equity or expenses you may have.
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Factor in extra costs
Before you start looking into the going prices of homes on the market, you should know that it’s common to have to pay around 12 percent on top of the listed price in taxes and other fees.
These include the land transfer tax, the real-estate agent fee and a notary fee.
EXPLAINED: What fees do you have to pay when buying a home in Germany?
Property prices
So, assuming you’re on-board with paying those fees, and you have a rough idea of the value of a housing loan a bank will give you, how much home can you afford?
According to information shared by Investropa – which offers financial services in Germany – national average prices for homes are around €4,161 per square metre.
A couple view a property. Buying property in Germany comes with a whole lot of extra fees on top of the listed purchase price. Photo: dpa/RTLZWEI, EndemolShine Germany | RTLZWEI
This varies significantly between new builds (€5,478 per square metre) and existing apartments (€3,403 per square metre). It also varies immensely between regions: Munich is known for its high property values (€8,476 per square metre on average), Berlin can be a bit cheaper than Munich (€5,451 per square metre), and some rural regions can be significantly cheaper (in the €1-2,000 range).
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Currently, the average size of a home in Germany is around 46 square metres. So an average-sized, averagely-priced German home would be expected to cost about €191,406.
To give an idea: a similar apartment in Munich would be expected to cost around €389,897, and in Berlin it would be around €250,746.
Keep in the mind that these figures are based on a rather compact apartment size – if you’re thinking of a larger flat suitable for a family, or for a standalone house with more floor space, you can expect the numbers to be much larger. It’s not uncommon to see high-end 100-square-metre apartments listed for over a million euros.
As The Local previously reported, a couple looking to buy a home worth one million euros would likely need around €150,000 in the bank, as well as a combined net income of around €13,000 monthly.
READ ALSO: How much do you need to earn in Germany to buy a million euro home?
If those numbers sound out of reach, that’s because very few people in Germany earn anything near to that.
A couple with two slightly-above average income earners could feasibly finance a €500,000 home, however.
According to the article by Das Finanzen linked above, a house at this price could be financed on a gross income of €8,204 per month, or €4,100 per person per month.
As we’ve touched on, the highest property prices are consistently found in Germany’s biggest cities including Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin.
Dortmund is among the most affordable of the country’s major cities, and smaller cities in the east such as Chemnitz or Magdeburg have some of the lowest real estate prices.
Leipzig’s Plagwitz district, Hamburg’s HafenCity, Bremen’s Überseestadt and Erfurt are all highlighted by Investropa as areas with strong price growth potential.
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The bottom line
The immense cost of property in Germany’s more populous regions, along with significant additional costs, means that the prospect of buying a house or apartment remains just out of reach for many.
But if you have a high-paying job, significant equity, or are willing to invest in property outside of the big cities, you just may be able to buy a home of your own.
