Buying in Berlin: the back story

About Buying in Berlin: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Berlin Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Berlin is a city of flats. The prized homes are in the Altbau, the 19th- and early 20th-century apartment buildings with high ceilings and parquet floors in Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain. Villas stand in Grunewald, Dahlem and around the Wannsee, and new quarters have risen on former rail and border land in Mitte.

Where people buy

In the West, Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf have grand Altbau streets around the Kurfürstendamm, and Grunewald and Dahlem have villas. In the East, Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte have restored Altbau, and Friedrichshain mixes Altbau with the apartment palaces of Karl-Marx-Allee.

How buying works

In Germany a property purchase contract must be notarised: a notary reads the contract aloud to buyer and seller and arranges the entry of the new owner in the Land Register (Grundbuch). Buyers pay the real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer), set by each federal state; confirm Berlin’s current rate with the Senate Department for Finance or your notary.

In Germany, every property sale is signed before a notary: take your own lawyer too.

Advisers

Agencies with Berlin offices include Engel & Völkers and Berlin Sotheby’s International Realty.

Our advice: ask for the building’s owners’ association minutes before you buy a flat.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Buying in Berlin: the back story before you go.