Property Transfer Tax in Nuremberg: 3.5% Explained
Grunderwerbsteuer in Bavaria (Bayern): rate, timing, exemptions and planning. LDP Group buys in Nuremberg 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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Property Transfer Tax in Nuremberg: what to know
Bavaria (Bayern) levies 3.5% Grunderwerbsteuer: the lowest rate in Germany, a structural advantage for buyers here (national span: 3.5% Bavaria to 6.5% NRW/Brandenburg/Saarland/Schleswig-Holstein). It falls due weeks after notarisation, and the land registry will not transfer ownership until the tax office issues its clearance certificate (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung).
Planning notes: movable inventory (fitted kitchen, sauna) can be priced separately and escapes the tax if realistic; for rented property the tax joins your AfA depreciation basis. Entity structures: a law in force since 3 July 2026 made the reliefs for property partnerships (§§ 5, 6 GrEStG) permanent, and for share deals the signing of the contract is now the taxable event. Take tax advice before structuring.
The Nuremberg market in numbers
Nuremberg (Bavaria) has 547,913 residents. Existing apartments average around €3,680/m² (citywide range roughly €2,370–€6,480/m²), with new-builds at about €6,400/m². Average asking cold rent is about €11.97/m², putting the gross rental yield near 3.9%.
Price momentum: +5.8% year-on-year. 5-year change roughly 0% (immowelt: -0.3%): prices peaked 2021 (~3,924 EUR/m2), corrected ~-8% p.a. in 2022-23, recovering since 2024 (+4.2% in 2024, +5.8% in 2025).
Vacancy: roughly 0.8% (CBRE-empirica Leerstandsindex, marketable rental vacancy 2022). That is effectively full occupancy: supply scarcity drives both rents and letting speed.
Where to buy in Nuremberg
Erlenstegen, St. Johannis and Altstadt / St. Sebald trade clearly above the city average; that is where investment demand concentrates.
Altstadt / St. Sebald: Medieval walled old town below the Kaiserburg with landmark Altbau and rebuilt post-war stock: prestige central address for owner-occupiers and short-stay demand. Apartments trade around €5,000–€6,000/m².
Erlenstegen: Nuremberg's classic villa quarter in the leafy north-east: the city's most expensive residential district with scarce supply. Apartments trade around €6,000–€8,000/m².
St. Johannis: Sought-after Gründerzeit-Altbau quarter along the Pegnitz near the Hesperidengärten: cafe culture, popular with professionals and families. Apartments trade around €5,300–€6,300/m².
Gostenhof (GoHo): Multicultural, gentrifying inner-west district ('Nuremberg's Kreuzberg') with galleries and nightlife: dynamic pricing and strong rental demand. Apartments trade around €4,500–€5,500/m².
Südstadt (Steinbühl / Galgenhof): Dense, workaday quarter south of the main station with high renter share and value-entry prices: classic yield play close to the centre. Apartments trade around €3,370–€3,640/m².
Langwasser: Large 1960s-70s planned satellite district in the south-east with U-Bahn links and green spaces: budget segment favoured by families and buy-to-let investors. Apartments trade around €3,600–€3,740/m².
The district bands come from separate sources and dates, so some sit outside the citywide range quoted above.
Taxes & buying costs in Nuremberg
Property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) in Bavaria is 3.5%. Add approximately 2% for notary and land registry (statutory GNotKG fees), so purchase costs come to about 5.5% 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.
Nuremberg is a designated tight housing market: the Mietpreisbremse caps new-lease rents at roughly 10% above the local comparative rent (Mietspiegel), and the reduced Kappungsgrenze limits in-tenancy increases to 15% within three years. Factor the achievable regulated rent, not the asking-rent headline, into your underwriting.
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: Melderegister Stadt Nürnberg as of 31.12.2025 (547,913; official Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik figure: 531,159 as of 31.12.2025).
Purchase prices: immowelt Price Map, apartments (existing stock), estimate as of 01.06.2026.
Rents: Asking rents (Angebotsmieten, new lettings): 11.97 EUR/m2 in Q2 2026, +3.91% YoY: ImmoScout24 Mietspiegel Nürnberg (search snippet; page blocked direct fetch).
Yield: computed from price+rent above: 11.97 x 12 / 3,680 = 3.90% gross. Not independently sourced.
Price trend: immowelt apartment price series for Nürnberg (2025 avg 3,670 EUR/m2, +5.8% vs 2024).
Vacancy: CBRE-empirica Leerstandsindex, marketable rental vacancy 2022: 0.8% for Nürnberg: cited in HypoVereinsbank Wohnimmobilien-Marktbericht Nürnberg-Fürth-Erlangen.
Frequently asked questions
Can I avoid Grunderwerbsteuer legally?
For a normal single purchase, no: but you can carve out genuinely movable inventory, and direct transfers between spouses and direct relatives are exempt. Share-deal rules for companies were tightened in 2021, and since 3 July 2026 the signing is the taxable event; specialist advice is essential there.
Can foreigners buy investment property in Nuremberg?
Yes. Non-residents can buy property in Nuremberg 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 Nuremberg?
On top of the purchase price, budget 3.5% property transfer tax (Bavaria) and about 2% notary and land registry, so about 5.5% 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 Nuremberg?
Gross yields in Nuremberg average around 3.9%, lower in prime locations like Erlenstegen.
How much is property per square metre in Nuremberg?
Existing apartments average about €3,680/m² to buy and roughly €11.97/m² cold rent per month, varying significantly by neighbourhood and condition.