Furnished Rental Investment in Frankfurt am Main
Temporary living, expat lets and furniture surcharges: economics and rules. LDP Group buys in Frankfurt am Main and works with English-speaking partner notaries. FM Zinswerk, an independent mortgage broker licensed under § 34i GewO, advises on and brokers the loan; the tax structure is set by the tax firm Helm & Partner before the notary date; LDP prepares the file and coordinates.
Book a free screening callIllustrative estimate at a 4.3% assumed interest rate (10y fixed, from our rate table, refreshed every two weeks) plus 2% initial amortisation. Actual terms depend on the property, your profile and the lender. Not financial advice.
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Furnished Rentals in Frankfurt am Main: what to know
Furnished temporary living (Wohnen auf Zeit) targets Frankfurt am Main's expat arrivals, project workers and new hires: exactly LDP's community. Furnished units command significant premiums over cold rent, absorb the furniture via separate surcharge, and rotate tenants every 6–24 months.
Regulatory reality: furnished is NOT exempt from the Mietpreisbremse where it applies, the furniture surcharge sits on top of the permitted base rent, and several cities restrict genuine short-term letting via Zweckentfremdung rules (Hamburg and Munich enforce hard). The sweet spot is 6+ month corporate and relocation lets: premium pricing, low regulatory friction, professional tenants.
The Frankfurt am Main market in numbers
Frankfurt am Main (Hesse) has 781,337 residents. Existing apartments average around €5,680/m² (citywide range roughly €3,330–€9,390/m²), with new-builds at about €7,840/m². Average asking cold rent is about €19.57/m², putting the gross rental yield near 4.1%.
Price momentum: +4.3% year-on-year. After strong growth to an all-time peak in 2022, Frankfurt prices corrected in 2023–2024 and returned to growth in 2025 (+4.3% for condos in H1 2025, new-build back at 2023 levels), with the Gutachterausschuss forecasting stable to slightly rising prices for 2026.
Vacancy: roughly 0.1% (CBRE-empirica-Leerstandsindex 2025). That is effectively full occupancy: supply scarcity drives both rents and letting speed.
Where to buy in Frankfurt am Main
Westend, Ostend and Nordend trade clearly above the city average; that is where investment demand concentrates.
Westend (Westend-Süd): Frankfurt's most expensive and prestigious district: Gründerzeit townhouses next to the banking towers, Alte Oper and Palmengarten, favoured by finance-sector and international buyers. Apartments trade around €7,640–€11,560/m².
Nordend (Nordend-West): Leafy Gründerzeit quarter around Holzhausenpark, popular with double-income couples and young families; the most liquid of Frankfurt's premium micro-markets. Apartments trade around €6,480–€9,510/m².
Sachsenhausen (Sachsenhausen-Nord): South bank of the Main with the Museumsufer, riverside promenades and Apfelwein taverns; Sachsenhausen-Nord is premium while Sachsenhausen-Süd is markedly cheaper. Apartments trade around €5,160–€10,000/m².
Bornheim: Lively, village-like quarter along the Berger Straße with markets and nightlife ('Bernem'), offering urban flair at noticeably lower entry prices than Westend or Nordend. Apartments trade around €5,580–€8,800/m².
Bockenheim: Mixed former university quarter near the Palmengarten and Messe, gentrifying steadily and Frankfurt's fastest-growing district by population (+4.4% in 2025); seen as a value play. Apartments trade around €6,720–€8,140/m².
Ostend: Up-and-coming district around the European Central Bank tower and Osthafen, combining old working-class stock with new waterfront development. Apartments trade around €6,480–€9,770/m².
The district bands come from separate sources and dates, so some sit outside the citywide range quoted above.
Taxes & buying costs in Frankfurt am Main
Property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) in Hesse is 6%. Add approximately 2% for notary and land registry (statutory GNotKG fees), so purchase costs come to about 8% of the price; buying through an agent adds the buyer's commission (typically 2.98–3.57%), while LDP purchases carry no additional broker fee (Maklerprovision) on top of the price. For a standard profile German banks do not finance these costs.
Held privately, the property can be sold tax-free after the 10-year Spekulationsfrist; before that, gains are taxed at your personal rate. Depreciation (AfA) shelters rental income: 2% p.a. for buildings completed 1925–2022 (2.5% before 1925), 3% for buildings completed from 2023, and qualifying new projects started between October 2023 and September 2029 can choose 5% degressive depreciation instead of the linear rate.
General information, not tax advice. LDP Group gives no tax advice: the tax structure is set by the tax firm Helm & Partner (Steuerberater) before the notary date, and LDP prepares the purchase figures and coordinates.
Rent regulation in Frankfurt am Main is in legal flux: in a tenancy case in June 2026 the Amtsgericht Frankfurt held the 2025 extension of Hesse's ordinance invalid, the current ordinance expires on 25 November 2026, and a new ordinance that again covers Frankfurt am Main is due in mid-November 2026 (hessenschau, 24 September 2026). Underwrite as if the Mietpreisbremse applies.
Data & sources
Figures from the sources named below, mostly portal asking prices, checked in July 2026. Asking prices typically run 5–15% above notarised transaction values: where both exist, the source basis is stated.
Population: Stadt Frankfurt am Main, Bürgeramt Statistik und Wahlen, 'Frankfurt Statistik.aktuell' 04/2026 (Melderegister, Stand 31.12.2025; +0.6% YoY, all-time high).
Purchase prices: Gutachterausschuss für Immobilienwerte Frankfurt am Main, Halbjahresbericht H1 2025: citywide avg notarised transaction price for condominiums, +4.3% YoY.
Rents: Wohnungsbörse.net Mietspiegel Frankfurt: avg asking cold rent 2025: €19.57/m² (2026 to date: €19.38; district range Frankfurter Berg ~€12.79 to Innenstadt ~€23.77).
Yield: computed from price+rent above: €19.57 × 12 / €5,680 ≈ 4.1% (≈4.4% if the ImmoScout24 WohnBarometer existing-stock asking price of ~€5,291/m², Q3 2025, is used instead).
Price trend: Gutachterausschuss für Immobilienwerte Frankfurt am Main, Halbjahresbericht H1 2025.
Vacancy: CBRE-empirica-Leerstandsindex 2025 (market-active vacancy, data year 2024): Frankfurt 0.1%, tied with Munich and Freiburg for lowest in Germany.
Frequently asked questions
How is the furniture surcharge calculated?
Courts accept a monthly surcharge derived from the furniture's depreciated value (commonly 2% of the time value per month). A federal bill (Mietrecht II, BT-Drs. 21/6807, not yet law) would cap it at 1% of the current value per month, or a flat 10% of the net cold rent for fully furnished flats. Document the inventory with values at handover: it's your evidence if challenged.
Can foreigners buy investment property in Frankfurt am Main?
Yes. Non-residents can buy property in Frankfurt am Main without German citizenship or residency. Financing is available to expats and Blue Card holders; non-residents typically need 40–50% equity, while German tax residents usually bring 10–20% of the price (80–90% loan-to-value as standard, up to 100% with a strong income profile), plus the purchase costs in both cases.
What are the total buying costs in Frankfurt am Main?
On top of the purchase price, budget 6% property transfer tax (Hesse) and about 2% notary and land registry, so about 8% in total. Where an agent is involved, the buyer's commission (typically 2.98–3.57%) comes on top; LDP purchases carry no additional broker fee.
What rental yield can I expect in Frankfurt am Main?
Gross yields in Frankfurt am Main average around 4.1%, lower in prime locations like Westend.
How much is property per square metre in Frankfurt am Main?
Existing apartments average about €5,680/m² to buy and roughly €19.57/m² cold rent per month, varying significantly by neighbourhood and condition.