Country guide
Buying property in Germany as a foreigner
Rules last checked 29 October 2026 · 30 official sources · Education, not financial, tax, legal or immigration advice.
Germany sets no nationality or residency condition for buying a home or other land in the transfer tax statute, and a federal ministry working group report states that land can be acquired by anyone regardless of occupation and nationality. Sales of farm and forest land need approval under agricultural land transaction law, which does not list nationality as a ground for refusal.
What are you doing with Germany?
Returns after tax, what is withheld, and the way out.
Germany charges real estate transfer tax at 3.5 percent of the price under federal law, and each state sets its own rate, the same for foreign and German buyers. Details
Germany charges property tax (Grundsteuer) on the owner each year, and the new law applies from 1 January 2025. Details
Questions people in this position often miss
- Will I be taxed twice?Depends on your country
The country of the property and the country where the owner lives can each tax the same rent or gain.
- Can I borrow locally?Not confirmed yet
Lending to a buyer living abroad is limited in many countries and the loan to value limit can be lower.
- Can I move the money out of my own country?Depends on your country
Some countries cap or review money sent abroad to buy a home, and banks ask where the money came from.
- What do I report at home?Depends on your country
Foreign property, foreign accounts and foreign rent can each carry a form in the owner's own country.
- What is changing soon?Not confirmed yet
Bans, tax schedules and visa routes carry end dates, and a purchase often takes months to complete.
Whether a purchase gives a right to live there, and what living there costs in tax.
Germany sets no nationality or residency condition for buying a home or other land in the transfer tax statute, and a federal ministry working group report states that land can be acquired by anyone regardless of occupation and nationality. Details
Germany charges real estate transfer tax at 3.5 percent of the price under federal law, and each state sets its own rate, the same for foreign and German buyers. Details
Germany charges property tax (Grundsteuer) on the owner each year, and the new law applies from 1 January 2025. Details
Questions people in this position often miss
- Does buying give me the right to live there?Not confirmed yet
Several well known property routes to residence have closed or changed, and others need more than a purchase.
- What happens if I die, or the family inherits?Answered below
Unlimited liability (all assets worldwide) applies if the deceased or donor, or the heir or donee, is a domestic person at the time: residents, German nationals who have lived abroad no more than five years without a domestic home, and certain German public servants abroad.
- Can I move the money out of my own country?Depends on your country
Some countries cap or review money sent abroad to buy a home, and banks ask where the money came from.
- Will I be taxed twice?Depends on your country
The country of the property and the country where the owner lives can each tax the same rent or gain.
- What is changing soon?Not confirmed yet
Bans, tax schedules and visa routes carry end dates, and a purchase often takes months to complete.
Part year stays, the yearly bill, and what the family inherits.
Germany sets no nationality or residency condition for buying a home or other land in the transfer tax statute, and a federal ministry working group report states that land can be acquired by anyone regardless of occupation and nationality. Details
Germany charges property tax (Grundsteuer) on the owner each year, and the new law applies from 1 January 2025. Details
Germany charges real estate transfer tax at 3.5 percent of the price under federal law, and each state sets its own rate, the same for foreign and German buyers. Details
Questions people in this position often miss
- Does buying give me the right to live there?Not confirmed yet
Several well known property routes to residence have closed or changed, and others need more than a purchase.
- What happens if I die, or the family inherits?Answered below
Unlimited liability (all assets worldwide) applies if the deceased or donor, or the heir or donee, is a domestic person at the time: residents, German nationals who have lived abroad no more than five years without a domestic home, and certain German public servants abroad.
- What is owed every year, even if the home sits empty?Answered below
Germany charges property tax (Grundsteuer) on the owner each year, and the new law applies from 1 January 2025. Under the federal model the tax measure rate is 0.31 per mille of the property tax value for most residential buildings, multiplied by the municipality's own collection rate.
- Will I be taxed twice?Depends on your country
The country of the property and the country where the owner lives can each tax the same rent or gain.
- Can I move the money out of my own country?Depends on your country
Some countries cap or review money sent abroad to buy a home, and banks ask where the money came from.
What is owed each year, on rent and on a sale, and what the heirs face.
Germany charges property tax (Grundsteuer) on the owner each year, and the new law applies from 1 January 2025. Details
Germany charges real estate transfer tax at 3.5 percent of the price under federal law, and each state sets its own rate, the same for foreign and German buyers. Details
Questions people in this position often miss
- What do I report at home?Depends on your country
Foreign property, foreign accounts and foreign rent can each carry a form in the owner's own country.
- Will I be taxed twice?Depends on your country
The country of the property and the country where the owner lives can each tax the same rent or gain.
- What happens if I die, or the family inherits?Answered below
Unlimited liability (all assets worldwide) applies if the deceased or donor, or the heir or donee, is a domestic person at the time: residents, German nationals who have lived abroad no more than five years without a domestic home, and certain German public servants abroad.
- What happens when I sell?Answered below
Germany taxes a gain on land and buildings sold within ten years of purchase, and a gain stays tax free if the total private disposal gain in the year is below 1,000 EUR. Property used only as the owner's home, or as the owner's home in the year of sale and the two years before, is excluded.
- What is changing soon?Not confirmed yet
Bans, tax schedules and visa routes carry end dates, and a purchase often takes months to complete.
Who may buy
Choose a nationality to see the rules that apply to it.
Every rule, for every buyer
| Buyer | Property | Reading | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everyone else | agricultural land | Conditions apply |
|
| Everyone else | Any property | Open |
|
What it costs to buy
Real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer), federal default
- Rate
- The federal Act sets 3.5% of the consideration (section 11).
- Since the 2006 federalism reform each state sets its own rate, and the rate is the same for foreign and German buyers.
- Exempt: acquisitions with a taxable value up to 2,500 euros, inheritance and gifts, transfers between spouses and civil partners, transfers between relatives in the direct line, and transfers to a former spouse on divorce (section 3).
Real estate transfer tax by state (rates for ten states, in force on 29 October 2026)
- Rate
Each state sets its own rate, and the rate is the same for foreign and German buyers. State, then rate:
- Baden Wuerttemberg 5%
- Bavaria 3.5%
- Berlin 6%
- Brandenburg 6.5%
- Hamburg 5.5%
- Lower Saxony 5%
- North Rhine Westphalia 6.5%
- Rhineland Palatinate 5%
- Saxony 5.5%
- Schleswig Holstein 6.5%
Real estate transfer tax, Thuringia and Hesse
- Rate
- Thuringia 5%, cut from 6.5% as of 1 January 2024 (Thuringia Finance Ministry, 6 May 2025).
- Hesse 6%, applied to transactions completed from 1 August 2014 (Hesse law of 16 July 2014, which replaced the word five with 6 in section 1 of the rate law).
- The rate is the same for foreign and German buyers.
- Check
Check it is still current. The date of the law is not confirmed.
What if the price is…?
- Real estate transfer tax, Baden Wuerttemberg (a banded scale)EUR 25,000
Duties and fees under the rules shownEUR 25,000
- The state sets its own rate, and it is the same for foreign and German buyers. Notary and land register fees are not included. Rates are listed for ten states only.
Only duties stated for a foreign buyer of a home are counted: flat rates, flat fees and the standard banded scale shown. Reliefs, exemptions and the buyer's own circumstances can change the result. A planning figure, not a quote: legal fees, agent fees and local taxes are extra.
What an owner pays each year
Property tax (Grundsteuer), reformed
- Rate
- Federal model: a tax measure amount is the property tax value times a rate per mille (0.31 per mille for most residential buildings, 0.34 per mille for unbuilt land and non residential built property; section 15 of the Property Tax Act), then the municipality multiplies by its own collection rate (Hebesatz), set for each calendar year.
- Municipalities may set a separate higher rate for building ready unbuilt plots.
- The new law applies from 1 January 2025 after the Federal Constitutional Court judgment of 10 April 2018.
- If the owner lives elsewhere
The tax falls on the owner of the property.
Key numbers (2)
| Property tax measure rate for most residential buildings (federal model)from 1 January 2025 | 0.31 per mille |
|---|---|
| Property tax measure rate for unbuilt land and non residential built property (federal model)from 1 January 2025 | 0.34 per mille |
Rent from the property
Tax on rent
- Owner living elsewhere
- Rent from German property is domestic income of a person with limited income tax liability (sections 1(4) and 49(1) no.
- 6 of the Income Tax Act).
- Deductions are allowed only where economically connected to domestic income.
- The basic allowance is added back to taxable income for non residents (section 50(1)), so the zero band of the tariff does not shelter the rent.
- The 2026 tariff (section 32a) is progressive: 0 up to 12,348 euros, then a rising scale, 42% from 69,879 euros and 45% from 277,826 euros.
- The solidarity surcharge is 5.5% of the income tax (section 4 of the Solidarity Surcharge Act) and is charged only above an income tax threshold (20,350 euros for a single assessment, section 3(3)).
- On application a person with no home in Germany can be treated as fully liable if at least 90% of income is subject to German tax or the foreign income does not exceed the basic allowance (section 1(3)).
- Filing
Annual income tax return for limited liability.
Key numbers (5)
| Solidarity surcharge on income tax | 5.5% |
|---|---|
| Solidarity surcharge applies only if income tax exceeds (single assessment) | EUR 20,350 |
| Income tax basic allowance (zero band), 2026from 1 January 2026 | EUR 12,348 |
| Income tax rate rises to 42 percent from taxable income offrom 1 January 2026 | EUR 69,879 |
| Income tax top rate from 277,826 euros of taxable income, 2026from 1 January 2026 | 45% |
Selling
Tax on a sale
- Owner living elsewhere
- Gains from selling domestic land and buildings within ten years of acquisition are taxable private disposal gains (section 23 EStG), and for non residents they are domestic income under section 49(1) no.
- 8.
- Gain is sale price less acquisition or production costs and expenses; depreciation claimed is deducted from cost.
- Losses offset only gains of the same year, with carry back to the prior year and carry forward under section 10d.
- Gains stay tax free if the total private disposal gain in the year is below 1,000 euros.
- Exemptions
Excluded from the ten year rule: property used exclusively for own residential purposes between acquisition (or completion) and sale, or used as own home in the year of sale and the two years before. After ten years a gain is outside section 23.
Key numbers (1)
| Private disposal gains tax free if total gain in the year is below | EUR 1,000 |
|---|
Inheritance and gifts
Inheritance and gift tax
- Summary
- Unlimited liability (all assets worldwide) applies if the deceased or donor, or the heir or donee, is a domestic person at the time: residents, German nationals who have lived abroad no more than five years without a domestic home, and certain German public servants abroad.
- In all other cases limited liability covers only domestic assets (section 121 BewG, which includes domestic land and buildings, domestic business assets and certain company stakes).
- Allowances under unlimited liability: spouse 500,000 euros, children 400,000, grandchildren 200,000, other class I persons 100,000, class II and III 20,000.
- In limited liability the allowance is reduced in proportion to assets not subject to German tax acquired within ten years from the same person.
- Rates: class I 7% to 30%, class II 15% to 43%, class III 30% to 50%, by value bracket up to over 26 million euros.
Key numbers (2)
| Inheritance tax allowance, spouse or civil partner (unlimited liability) | EUR 500,000 |
|---|---|
| Inheritance tax allowance, child (unlimited liability) | EUR 400,000 |
From your country
The country of the property is only half of it. The country where you live can limit the money you send, tax the same rent and gain again, and ask for forms of its own.
Choose where you live to see what your own country does when you buy in Germany.
The usual steps, in order
- Agree terms. A contract to buy land must be made by a notary (section 311b of the Civil Code); a contract made without that form becomes valid only when the transfer and land register entry follow.
- For farm or forest land outside a development plan area, approval under the Agricultural Land Transaction Act is also needed; the state agricultural authority decides.
- The notary arranges the agreement on the transfer of ownership (Auflassung) with both parties present at the same time before a notary (section 925), and notifies the tax office.
- The state tax office assesses transfer tax on the consideration; the rate depends on the state. A state page (Hamburg) says assessment usually takes about six weeks and the clearance certificate that follows payment is needed for the land register entry.
- Ownership passes on entry in the land register. A foreign legal entity that owns German real estate registers its beneficial owners in the Transparency Register.
- Each year the municipality's property tax applies, based on the federal or state valuation model and the local Hebesatz.
- A non resident owner letting the property files an annual income tax return under limited liability; a sale within ten years of acquisition is taxable unless the own use exception applies.
Questions people ask
What if I am not a German citizen or resident and want to buy a flat in Germany?
No nationality or residency condition appears in the transfer tax, income tax or inheritance statutes read. A ministry working group report states that land ownership can be acquired by anyone regardless of occupation and nationality. Farm and forest land sales need approval under agricultural land transaction law, and nationality is not a statutory ground for refusal.
How does real estate transfer tax vary by state?
Federal law sets 3.5% and each state sets its own rate, with the same rate for foreign and German buyers. State, then rate, for the ten states with an official source: Baden Wuerttemberg 5%; Bavaria 3.5%; Berlin 6%; Brandenburg 6.5%; Hamburg 5.5%; Lower Saxony 5%; North Rhine Westphalia 6.5%; Rhineland Palatinate 5%; Saxony 5.5%; Schleswig Holstein 6.5%.
How does the Grundsteuer reform change the annual bill?
Under the federal model the tax equals the property tax value times a rate per mille (0.31 for most residential buildings) times the municipality's Hebesatz. The new law applies from 1 January 2025. Five states use their own models and the municipality sets the Hebesatz.
What if I rent out a German property from abroad?
The rent is taxed in Germany under limited liability, with the basic allowance added back, expenses deductible only if linked to German income, and a progressive tariff reaching 45%.
What if I sell within ten years?
Gains are taxable as private disposal gains unless the property was used only for own residential purposes (or as own home in the year of sale and two prior years). Under 1,000 euros of total annual gain stays tax free. After ten years the gain falls outside section 23.
How does inheritance tax apply to a non resident heir?
If neither the deceased nor the heir is a domestic person, only domestic assets such as German land and buildings are taxed, with allowances scaled by the share of assets under German tax. Rates run from 7% (class I) to 50% (class III).
What if a German national has lived abroad for years?
A German national counts as domestic for inheritance tax for five years after leaving without keeping a home; after that, limited liability applies unless another route in section 2 applies.
What if a buyer holds property through a foreign company?
The property transfer is taxed in the same way, and the company must register its beneficial owners in the Transparency Register when it owns German real estate (section 20 of the Money Laundering Act).
How does the solidarity surcharge apply to a non resident landlord?
The surcharge is 5.5% of the income tax and applies only above a threshold of income tax (20,350 euros for a single assessment), so it affects larger incomes.
What is still open
These points could not be confirmed from an official source yet, so they are not stated as rules.
- The transfer tax rates in Bremen, Hesse, Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, Saarland, Saxony Anhalt and Thuringia could not be confirmed from an official source yet.
- A general official statement that foreign buyers face no restriction on all property could not be confirmed from an official source yet.
- The state agricultural land laws that replace or amend the federal Act could not be confirmed from an official source yet.
- The number of double taxation agreements in force could not be confirmed from an official source yet.
- The filing deadlines and church tax for a non resident landlord could not be confirmed from an official source yet.
- The property tax models used by the states that depart from the federal model could not be confirmed from an official source yet.
- Mortgage access, notary and land registry fees and residence routes for buyers living abroad could not be confirmed from an official source yet.
Sources
Official pages these figures come from (30)
- Source 1
- Source 2
- bmleh.de
- Source 4
- Source 5
- Source 6
- Source 7
- lfst.bayern.de
- berlin.de
- Source 10
- bravors.brandenburg.de
- hamburg.de
- lstn.niedersachsen.de
- recht.nrw.de
- fm.rlp.de
- revosax.sachsen.de
- Source 17
- finanzen.thueringen.de
- starweb.hessen.de
- Source 20
- Source 21
- Source 22
- Source 23
- Source 24
- Source 25
- Source 26
- Source 27
- bundestag.de
- Source 29
- Source 30
See what this does to your own numbers
Add a property in Germany next to everything else you own, and see the income and net worth that follow after tax, year by year.
Free to start. No card. Rules checked 29 October 2026.
This is education, not financial, tax, legal or immigration advice. Rules change and depend on the buyer's own facts. Advice from a licensed professional in the country concerned is what settles a particular purchase.