Countries · Germany
What to check in Germany before you sign.
The asking price in a listing is a negotiating position, not a statement of value. If you do not know what the flat can actually fetch, you pay what is asked.
What costs the most money in Germany
Around 872,000 property purchase contracts with a turnover of €278 billion were concluded in 2025, over 70 percent of them residential. The valuation boards record every one of these contracts, but the individual price is not open to public inspection.
Source: Arbeitskreis der Gutachterausschüsse mit dem BBSR, 2025
Purchase costs
9 to 15%
of the purchase price, on top of the price in the listing.
- Real estate transfer tax, by federal state3.5 to 6.5%
- Notaryaround 1.0 to 1.5%
- Land register entryaround 0.3 to 0.5%
- Agent's commission in total, VAT included3.57 to 7.14%
Source: Transfer tax rates of the federal states, the Court and Notary Costs Act, §§ 656c und 656d BGB. The range is above all a question of which state you are in: Bavaria and Saxony charge 3.5 percent transfer tax, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Thuringia 6.5 percent. For flats and single-family houses bought for own use, buyer and seller have in principle each borne half the agent's commission since 23 December 2020.
The trap for tenants
In Berlin, 46 percent of existing flats advertised sit above the permitted rent ceiling, and for more than a third the threshold to rent profiteering is crossed. In Ulm it is around 70 percent. More than 20,000 online listings from May 2024 to October 2025 were examined.
Energy and the duty to renovate
The energy certificate has to be produced at the viewing at the latest and handed over after the purchase; the mandatory figures belong in the listing already. A breach costs up to €10,000. New owners take on duties of their own: boilers older than 30 years have to go within two years of the change of ownership, and uninsulated top-floor ceilings have to be insulated.
Source: Gebäudeenergiegesetz, §§ 47, 72, 80, 87 und 108 Abs. 1 Nr. 23 bis 27
Certificate validity: 10 years
What to watch for in Germany in particular
The most common way around the rent brake is letting furnished. Among furnished offers in Berlin, 69 percent sit above the permitted ceiling, and for more than half of those listings the threshold to rent profiteering is crossed as well. The surcharge for the furniture does not have to be shown separately, and that is exactly what makes checking so hard for a tenant.
Official maps in Germany
6 map layers lie directly over your property.
Not as an average for the district, but at your exact address, with a legend and a visible source. Every layer can be switched on separately.
Check it yourself
The official bodies in Germany.
Scan my Home checks against these sources. You can call up every one of them yourself, and that is exactly the point: a figure you cannot verify is not a figure, it is a claim.
Value & land value
Official standard land value for the location
Gutachterausschuss / Grundstücksmarktbericht
Real purchase price collection and market report for the region
Ownership & charges
Grundbuch (Amtsgericht)
Owner, mortgages, rights of way and residence, charges in sections II and III
Energy
Energieausweis-Registriernummer (DIBt)
Authenticity and registration of the energy certificate
Environment & natural hazards
Hochwasser-Risikokarten der Länder
Flood and inundation risk at the location
Altlastenkataster der Länder
Contaminated and suspected sites on the plot
Building & zoning
Bebauungsplan & Bauamt der Gemeinde
Permitted use, public building charges, planned schemes nearby
Market & transactions
Immobilien-Preisspiegel / Portale
Current asking and comparable prices in the area
The market in Germany
Around 872,000 purchase contracts and €278 billion in turnover, of which around €198 billion for residential property including residential building land.
Source: Arbeitskreis der Gutachterausschüsse mit dem BBSR, 2025
A real dossier from this country
See what the analysis found on an actual listing in Germany — every figure with its source.
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