How Much Cash Buys a 70 m² Apartment? 25 German Cities Ranked (2026)
The all-in price of the same 70 m² apartment varies 3.8x across Germany's 25 largest housing markets. Including transfer tax and notary fees, a buyer needs about €157,700 in Duisburg but €605,600 in Munich. Six major cities still come in under €200,000 all-in, and with 80% bank financing the cheapest entry ticket drops to about €41,400 of own cash.
Published by LDP Group, a firm near Munich that finds and manages rental property in Germany for expats and coordinates the financing with a licensed mortgage broker. To see what the figures mean for one flat, run a real client purchase with your own numbers.
What do these figures mean for your own purchase? In a free 30-minute screening call we check whether your residence, income and equity fit a German bank. The call is held in English, German, Arabic, Hindi or Tamil.
Book a free screening callThe ranking: total cash for a 70 m² apartment, all 25 cities (2026)
| # | City | €/m² | Apartment (70 m²) | Transfer tax | Tax + notary* | Total all-in | Cash at 80% LTV** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duisburg | €2,080 | €145,300 | 6.5% | €12,400 | €157,700 | €41,400 |
| 2 | Wuppertal | €2,250 | €157,500 | 6.5% | €13,400 | €170,900 | €44,900 |
| 3 | Mönchengladbach | €2,320 | €162,300 | 6.5% | €13,800 | €176,100 | €46,200 |
| 4 | Bochum | €2,510 | €175,800 | 6.5% | €14,900 | €190,700 | €50,100 |
| 5 | Dortmund | €2,610 | €182,400 | 6.5% | €15,500 | €197,800 | €52,000 |
| 6 | Leipzig | €2,640 | €184,500 | 5.5% | €13,800 | €198,400 | €50,700 |
| 7 | Essen | €2,780 | €194,300 | 6.5% | €16,500 | €210,800 | €55,400 |
| 8 | Bielefeld | €2,780 | €194,300 | 6.5% | €16,500 | €210,800 | €55,400 |
| 9 | Bremen | €2,930 | €205,400 | 5.5% | €15,400 | €220,800 | €56,500 |
| 10 | Dresden | €2,970 | €208,000 | 5.5% | €15,600 | €223,600 | €57,200 |
| 11 | Hanover | €3,560 | €249,500 | 5.0% | €17,500 | €266,900 | €67,400 |
| 12 | Nuremberg | €3,680 | €257,600 | 3.5% | €14,200 | €271,800 | €65,700 |
| 13 | Mannheim | €3,930 | €275,100 | 5.0% | €19,300 | €294,400 | €74,300 |
| 14 | Münster | €4,000 | €280,000 | 6.5% | €23,800 | €303,800 | €79,800 |
| 15 | Karlsruhe | €4,210 | €294,400 | 5.0% | €20,600 | €315,000 | €79,500 |
| 16 | Stuttgart | €4,310 | €301,700 | 5.0% | €21,100 | €322,800 | €81,500 |
| 17 | Wiesbaden | €4,300 | €300,700 | 6.0% | €24,100 | €324,800 | €84,200 |
| 18 | Cologne | €4,280 | €299,400 | 6.5% | €25,400 | €324,800 | €85,300 |
| 19 | Augsburg | €4,440 | €310,500 | 3.5% | €17,100 | €327,500 | €79,200 |
| 20 | Düsseldorf | €4,440 | €310,500 | 6.5% | €26,400 | €336,800 | €88,500 |
| 21 | Bonn | €4,460 | €312,100 | 6.5% | €26,500 | €338,600 | €88,900 |
| 22 | Berlin | €5,320 | €372,400 | 6.0% | €29,800 | €402,200 | €104,300 |
| 23 | Frankfurt am Main | €5,680 | €397,600 | 6.0% | €31,800 | €429,400 | €111,300 |
| 24 | Hamburg | €6,270 | €439,100 | 5.5% | €32,900 | €472,000 | €120,800 |
| 25 | Munich | €8,200 | €574,000 | 3.5% | €31,600 | €605,600 | €146,400 |
*State transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) plus notary and land registry approximated at 2.0%, the upper end of the usual 1.5 to 2% under the statutory GNotKG fee tables. Agent commissions excluded: they vary by transaction and are frequently zero on developer projects. **Own cash with an 80% loan-to-value mortgage: 20% down payment plus purchase costs, which banks do not finance for a standard profile. City prices: average apartment price per m² as published by the source on each city page, mostly 2026 asking prices or portal price maps; Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Münster are notarised sale prices; Frankfurt am Main H1 2025, Munich and Cologne Q3 2025, Münster 2025. Prices per m² rounded to the nearest €10 for display; calculations use the unrounded prices.
Key findings
Duisburg is Germany's cheapest big-city entry point in 2026: at about €2,080/m², a 70 m² apartment costs about €145,300, plus €12,400 in transfer tax and notary fees, for roughly €157,700 all-in. At the other end, Munich (€8,200/m²) requires about €605,600: enough to buy 3.8 average Duisburg apartments, with cash to spare.
Six cities clear the €200,000 all-in bar: Duisburg, Wuppertal, Mönchengladbach, Bochum, Dortmund and Leipzig. Five are in the Ruhr region or Rhineland, one in Saxony. All six sit in the 4.0-4.9% gross yield band, well above the big-seven average.
Transfer tax reshuffles the ranking in non-obvious ways. Bavaria's 3.5% rate means a buyer in Nuremberg pays about €9,000 in transfer tax on a €257,600 apartment: less tax than in Duisburg, where the apartment itself costs €145,300 but Nordrhein-Westfalen charges 6.5%. On identical purchase prices, the state choice moves five figures.
For a standard profile German banks do not finance the purchase costs: they lend against the property value, so transfer tax and notary fees come from equity. With a standard 80% loan-to-value mortgage, the own-cash requirement ranges from about €41,400 in Duisburg to €146,400 in Munich. Run your own numbers in the Purchase Cost Calculator and the Mortgage Calculator, or dive into the full city reports.
Methodology and sources
Reference unit: 70 m² apartment at the average apartment price per m² for each city as published by the named source: mostly 2026 asking prices or portal price-map estimates, and notarised sale prices based on Gutachterausschuss data for Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Münster. Dates differ by city: Frankfurt am Main H1 2025, Munich and Cologne Q3 2025, Münster 2025, all others 2026 (full source list per city in the respective LDP city report). Purchase costs: state transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) at the rates set by state law as of August 2026, plus notary and land registry approximated at 2.0%, the upper end of the usual 1.5 to 2% under the statutory GNotKG fee tables. Agent commissions are excluded: they vary by transaction and are frequently zero on developer projects. Totals rounded to the nearest €100, prices per m² to the nearest €10 for display; calculations use the unrounded prices. Background on all cost components in the glossary entry on Kaufnebenkosten.
Reviewed by Nicholas Runtic and Abdelrahman Maged, co-founders of LDP Group, before publication.
German mortgage rates, every second Tuesday
Citation & press use
Figures may be quoted freely with attribution to "How Much Cash Buys a 70 m² Apartment? 25 German Cities Ranked (2026), LDP Group" and a link to this page. Press enquiries: info@ldp.group.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest major German city to buy an apartment in 2026?
Duisburg, at about €157,700 all-in for an average 70 m² resale apartment, including transfer tax and notary fees. Wuppertal and Mönchengladbach follow, both under €180,000.
How much cash do I need if the bank finances 80%?
The 20% down payment plus all purchase costs, which banks do not finance for a standard profile. That means roughly €41,400 of own cash in Duisburg and about €146,400 in Munich for the same 70 m² reference apartment.
Why is the gap between cities so large?
Prices per m² range from about €2,080 in Duisburg to €8,200 in Munich, a 3.9x spread, and state transfer tax adds between 3.5% (Bavaria) and 6.5% (e.g. Nordrhein-Westfalen) on top. Combined, the identical apartment costs 3.8 times more all-in in the most expensive market.
Are agent commissions included in these figures?
No. Buyer-side commissions vary by transaction, are capped at 50% of the total by law since 2020, and are frequently zero on new-build and developer projects. The ranking counts only the unavoidable costs: transfer tax, notary and land registry.