In the first half of 2025, asking rents continued to rise in almost all independent cities, in some cases with double-digit percentage increases. The shortage of housing supply, the ongoing housing construction crisis, and high demand are putting pressure on the German rental housing market.
The above-average development of rents is likely to continue in the short and medium term. This is the conclusion of an analysis by BNP Paribas Real Estate. According to the analysis, asking rents for existing properties rose by four percent in A cities and university cities, three percent in medium-sized cities, and five percent in large cities compared to the end of 2024.
The highest median asking rents in the existing stock are recorded in A cities, at an average of €15.75 per square meter. University cities follow at a considerable distance, at €12.25 per square meter. Berlin is the independent city with the strongest rental price development in Germany: rents in the existing stock there have risen by 87 percent since 2015. Frankfurt am Main shows above-average rental price growth of six percent compared to the end of 2024.
At 72 percent each, rents in the new-build segment in the German capital and in Hamburg have risen the most since 2015. In the Hanseatic city, rents for new-build properties have risen by 13 percent in the last six months, which is above average. Due to the strong rental price dynamics, Hamburg is now more expensive than Frankfurt and Berlin and is the second most expensive location in the new-build segment in Germany after Munich.
These observations are essentially corroborated by an analysis by JLL. According to this analysis, the housing markets in German metropolitan areas have developed in very different ways. While asking rents rose sharply in some cities year-on-year, they paused their growth in others. The discrepancy is particularly evident in the development of rents for new buildings.
Photo: © Grabener, Grabener Verlag Kiel, 2025
