Berlin Rental Market Sees Decline in Q1 2026 Amidst National Slowdown
Berlin, Germany, April 21, 2026 – The German rental market is experiencing a notable slowdown in growth, with Berlin registering a decline in asking rents during the first quarter of 2026. According to the latest update of the GREIX Rental Price Index, published by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, nominal rents across German cities rose only moderately by 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter and 2.9 percent year-on-year. This marks the lowest nominal annual growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2021.
When adjusted for inflation, rents saw a slight decrease of 0.1 percent compared to the previous quarter. For Berlin, the situation is more pronounced, with a 1.8 percent decline in asking rents quarter-on-quarter, placing it among the cities experiencing a decrease, alongside Stuttgart (-0.2%).
National Trends and Berlin’s Position
Jonas Zdrzalek, GREIX Project Lead at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, highlighted the broader trend: “The quarterly picture is clear: at 2.9 percent year-over-year, nominal growth is at its lowest level in over four years. In real terms, rental prices have fallen slightly compared to the previous quarter. Looking further back, we see that compared to the inflation-adjusted peak in 2020, real asking rents today are only 2.8 percent higher. This shows that asking rents have not deviated significantly differently from the general rate of inflation. However, the market remains fragmented, with large differences between cities.”
While cities like Düsseldorf (+1.9%), Hamburg (+1.6%), and Frankfurt a.M. (+1.2%) saw growth rates above the national GREIX average of 0.5 percent, Berlin’s performance indicates a distinct regional divergence. Munich’s growth was slightly below average at +0.4 percent.
Rent Levels and Market Fragmentation
Despite the recent decline, Berlin’s average cold rent stands at €15.84 per square meter, placing it in the upper mid-range among Germany’s eight largest cities. Munich continues to lead with an average of €23.56 per square meter, followed by Frankfurt am Main (€17.71/m²), Hamburg (€16.35/m²), and Stuttgart (€16.25/m²). The weighted average across all 37 cities and regions in the GREIX is currently €14.36 per square meter.
The report also points to significant heterogeneity outside the top eight cities, with Augsburg (€14.86/m²), Potsdam (€14.68/m²), and Münster (€14.27/m²) exceeding Leipzig’s €10.41/m². Chemnitz (€6.19/m²), Gelsenkirchen (€7.56/m²), and Hamm (€8.33/m²) remain the least expensive.
Declining Regular Listings and Structural Transformation
A key finding of the GREIX report is the continued decline in regular rental listings. In Q1 2026, the number of such listings on major platforms decreased by 0.6 percent from the previous quarter. This trend is long-standing, with a 22 percent fall in regular listings across the entire GREIX since 2015, from 285,000 to approximately 250,000 in 2025. In cities like Münster and Potsdam, the decline since 2015 is even more pronounced, reaching 50 to 55 percent.
Conversely, the market for furnished long-term rentals is expanding significantly. In Germany’s eight largest cities, the average number of listings in this segment surged from approximately 7,500 in 2015 to around 23,000 in 2025 – an increase of over 200 percent. The short-term rental segment has remained relatively stable since 2018.
“The raw rent figures only partially reveal that the market is undergoing a structural transformation. Since 2015, regular listings have fallen by more than a fifth, while long-term furnished offers in metropolitan areas have nearly tripled. Anyone looking for an apartment today in a major city via common platforms is increasingly encountering conditions that were still an exception ten years ago,” stated Jonas Zdrzalek, emphasizing the changing landscape of the rental market.
Despite the rise of furnished and short-term rentals, regular listings still dominate, accounting for 73 percent of the GREIX market and 63 percent in the top eight cities, though their share is steadily decreasing.
The GREIX Rental Price Index is a publicly funded research project by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, aiming to enhance transparency in the German real estate market. It utilizes data from the VALUE market database and employs hedonic regression methods to ensure accurate price trend analysis by mitigating distortions caused by specific property characteristics.
Source: https://www.kielinstitut.de/publications/news/rental-dynamics-slow-down-berlin-below-previous-years-level/
