Berlin Apartment Market Q2 2026

Market Cycle and Inflection Points

Through the 2000s, Berlin's apartment market was in a phase of stagnation; prices and volumes moved sideways. From 2010, a market reordering set in, initiating a phase of significant price growth. Berlin moved increasingly into the focus of international investors. Catch-up effects, low purchase prices and declining interest rates became central drivers. Until 2022, market dynamics remained high across all sectors, supported by favourable financing conditions, sustained demand and high liquidity. In the resale segment, purchase prices rose by an average of 8.7 % per year between 2011 and 2026.

In 2021, inflation in Germany rose from 0.5% (2020) to 3.1%, the highest level since 1993. Against the backdrop of still-low interest rates and growing demand for tangible assets, a short-term overheating occurred. With the ECB's rate turn from 2022, the market weakened markedly. Rising financing costs dampened demand first and prices subsequently, producing a structural break. The corrections peaked in 2023. By the end of 2024 they eased, before the market moved into a sideways pattern with locally differentiated developments in 2025.

Resale Market

Resale apartments in Berlin are currently being notarised at an average of €5,440 per sqm. That marks a shift of €150 per sqm, or 3.0 %, against the 2025 average.

Over 15 years, this translates into an average annual return (CAGR) of 8.7 %; over 10 years, and despite the market corrections in between, the figure stands at 7.6 %.

The highest average purchase prices are currently achieved in Mitte (€7,430 per sqm), followed by Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (€5,860 per sqm) and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (€5,720 per sqm). The lowest sit in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, at €3,680 per sqm, Spandau (€3,460 per sqm) and Reinickendorf (€3,780 per sqm).

Prices in balance, supply on the rise

The gap between asking price and transaction price reveals where the balance of power lies. A wide gap points to a buyer's market, where sellers quote more than is ultimately notarised; a narrow gap signals a market in equilibrium. For 2026, we put that gap at around 4 %, or €230 per sqm. The median asking price and the median notarised purchase price now sit close together — buyers and sellers in Berlin have brought their price expectations into line.

Transactions

As at the cut-off date for this report, 3,526 resale apartments have been notarised in Berlin over the course of 2026, against 12,516 in the prior year. A direct year-on-year comparison cannot be drawn from this, as the year is still running and notarisations are reported with a lag. Even so, the pace of notarisation in 2026 remains well behind that of the previous year.

Listings

Supply is moving in the opposite direction to transactions. Across the whole of the previous year, 28,950 resale apartments were listed on the relevant portals. In the first five months of 2026, the figure already stands at 21,377. At an unchanged pace, full-year supply in 2026 would come in well above the prior-year volume.

How purchase prices form

Beyond location, purchase prices are shaped above all by availability (occupied or vacant), construction period and condition. The overall ticket size of a transaction matters too: through the levers of equity and debt, it defines how much buyers are willing — or able — to commit.

Unit sizes

Rising apartment prices feed directly into affordability, and in turn into the sizes that buyers acquire. In 2010, the average resale living area stood at 74 sqm; in 2026, it is 69 sqm. Over the same period, the average transaction price has risen from €109,200 to €380,200.

Location and micro-location

Price ranges within the boroughs vary considerably and reflect the locational qualities of their districts. Boroughs with heterogeneous locations show the widest ranges. In the Mitte district, the price per square metre is €9,610 per sqm; in Wedding, it is €4,280 per sqm — both within the borough of Mitte. Comparable ranges appear in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Steglitz-Zehlendorf, while the outlying boroughs of Marzahn-Hellersdorf and Lichtenberg show the narrowest.

Availability — vacant or occupied

Vacant apartments naturally command higher prices, whereas for occupied units it is the rental yield that calibrates the price per square metre. The share of vacant apartments has risen over time, while sales of occupied units have been in decline since 2019.

Construction periods

Construction period leaves its mark on price as well. Classic period buildings (Altbau) and more recent new-builds typically achieve the highest prices per square metre, while post-war and prefab (Plattenbau) stock is valued more modestly.

The classic Altbau dominates transaction activity. Apartments built up to 1918 account for the largest share, followed by post-war stock. More recent vintages are markedly rarer by comparison — a reflection of the historically grown structure of Berlin's housing stock.

Investment Perspective

The structural fundamentals of the Berlin apartment market remain intact. The vacancy rate stood at 2.0 percent according to the 2022 census — well below the fluctuation reserve a functioning market requires. At the same time, construction activity is easing. In 2024, a net 15,362 apartments were added, after 17,310 in 2022. This persistent excess of demand underpins rental growth and secures the long-term value retention of resale investments.

That scarcity is reflected in long-run price performance. Over ten years, Berlin's resale market has delivered a CAGR of 7.6 %. The five-year figure stands at 1.8 %, reflecting the 2022/23 correction.

New-Build Apartment Market

Buyers currently pay an average of €7,960 per sqm for new-build apartments in Berlin — around -3.0 %, or -€240 per sqm, less than in the same period last year. Over 10 years, average annual price growth has run at roughly 6.9 %. In 2015, the average price per square metre was €3,810 per sqm — a delta of 94.0 % on today's new-builds.

In volume terms, Berlin's new-build sales market is effectively frozen. At 341 new-build apartments, around 42% fewer units were sold in the first five months than in the comparable period of 2025.

Notable is the sharply reduced average size of the units sold, currently at 60 sqm. In 2015, the average new-build condominium measured 82 sqm.

Rental Market

The average asking rent for resale apartments in Berlin stands at €18 per sqm net cold. For new-builds, €22 per sqm is being asked. Year-on-year, re-letting rents in the resale segment have stopped rising, while new-build rents have fallen by -€1.00 per sqm. The trajectory since 2015 shows a steady climb: from €9 per sqm (2015) through €11 per sqm (2020) to €18 per sqm today — a doubling within ten years.

Asking rents also include furnished and fixed-term lettings, which tend to carry higher prices per square metre, though their share of total supply is hard to quantify.

Setting asking rents against census rents makes plain the structural gap between market price and the realised rent level in Berlin. The average census resale rent in 2022 was €7.8 per sqm — less than half the current asking rent of €18 per sqm. In every borough, asking rents sit well above average in-place rents, with the multiple ranging, depending on location, from roughly 1.5 to over 2.5.

The divergence is most pronounced in inner-city boroughs such as Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Mitte and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, where high re-letting rents meet comparatively uniform in-place rents. In the outer boroughs the absolute gap is narrower, yet it remains structurally significant there too: even in lower-rent boroughs such as Marzahn-Hellersdorf or Spandau, asking rents lie well above census levels.

Social housing

According to the Berlin-Brandenburg Statistics Office, Berlin's building authorities approved 14,079 apartments in 2025, up from 9,772 in 2024 (+44.1%). Within social housing, the Senate granted approval for around 5,200 apartments, with a funding volume of some €1.3 billion. Eighty percent are being built by state-owned housing associations. Most of the subsidised apartments are aimed at middle incomes, with entry rents of €11.50 per square metre. At the end of 2023, Berlin counted just under 100,000 social housing units, down from 105,000 a year earlier. Each year, around 5,000 apartments fall out of their subsidy commitment.

Housing Shortage at the Core

Berlin's apartment market has been structurally undersupplied for many years. The 2024 Urban Development Plan Housing (Stadtentwicklungsplan Wohnen) quantifies total housing demand from 2022 to 2040 at 272,000 apartments. The figure comprises a demographic additional demand of 85,000 units from in-migration, a relief demand of 137,000 apartments to establish a fluctuation reserve of around three percent, and a strategic land reserve of 50,000 units for exceptional developments and crises. The plan itself makes no forecasts on future rent or price developments. Nevertheless, conclusions about potential market effects can be drawn from supply conditions and the spatial distribution of new construction. In inner-city locations, new-build potential is limited — additional living space arises predominantly through densification or conversion. While new quarters on the urban fringe add supply, established locations remain tight.

Outlook

Berlin's resale apartment market has completed its correction phase. After price declines of -5.0 % (2023) and -3.0 % (2024), prices per square metre rose by 6.0 % in 2025 and by a further 3.0 % in 2026. Values have thus overtaken the previous peak of 2022 (€5,360 per sqm) and now stand at €5,440 per sqm.

This price movement runs alongside a shrinking transaction market: more listings meet fewer completions at rising prices. The market is becoming selective. Owners are using the recovery to commit to a sale, while on the buyer side it is those with lower financing needs who prevail. Rate-sensitive prospects remain on the sidelines. The effect is most pronounced in the new-build and investment markets — and in the new-build segment it also explains the shrinking apartment sizes.

For Berlin's apartment market, 2026 may also bring regulatory turning points.

The federal government is pressing ahead with a reform of tenancy law. The draft bill, now approved by the cabinet, provides among other things for stricter rules on furnished apartments, transparency obligations for furniture surcharges, and a cap on index-linked rent increases.

On 20 September, Berlin elects a new House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus). Housing policy has historically been one of the defining campaign issues — from rent regulation and rights of first refusal to conversion bans.

Methodology

Data sources: Gutachterausschuss für Grundstückswerte in Berlin (transaction data) and IMV Immobilien-Marktdaten-Vertriebs GmbH (asking-price data). Own calculation, aggregation and presentation across Berlin’s spatial levels (borough, district, neighborhood). The figures shown are based on a model-based analysis and do not replace official statistics; despite careful processing, deviations cannot be ruled out.