The analysis of the ImmoScout24 WohnBarometer for the second quarter of 2026 reveals a nuanced development in the German rental market. On the one hand, rental prices have risen moderately both nationwide and in the largest cities. On the other hand, demand for rental flats has picked up significantly, but remains below the previous year's figures. A key cost driver is ancillary costs, the increase of which is particularly noticeable in unrenovated existing flats.
Dr. Gesa Crockford highlights that there is once again increased demand for larger rental flats of 80 square metres or more in the metropolitan regions. Families who had previously postponed moving plans due to economic uncertainty are now re-entering the market more actively. In parallel, the burden of ancillary costs in unrenovated existing properties is rising more sharply than the net cold rent, making the energy efficiency of a property a growing factor in overall housing costs.
After a period of restraint in previous quarters, demand for rental flats recovered noticeably during the reporting period. In the eight largest metropolitan areas, it rose by 9 per cent compared to the previous quarter, representing the strongest increase among all regional categories. In rural areas, the increase was 2 per cent and in urban districts 1 per cent. In contrast, a slight decline in demand of 1 per cent was recorded in the metropolitan hinterland. Cities such as Hamburg (+25 per cent), Berlin (+13 per cent) and Leipzig (+11 per cent) showed the strongest increases, after having previously experienced significant declines. In Hamburg, demand thus returned to the level of the previous year's quarter; Berlin and Leipzig remained below this. Overall, demand in the second quarter of 2026 was below the values of the second quarter of 2025 in all regional categories – 19 per cent in the metropolitan hinterland, 18 per cent in urban districts, 14 per cent in rural areas and an average of 11 per cent in metropolitan areas below the previous year's level.
Asking rents for existing flats rose nationwide by 0.6 per cent in the second quarter to an average of 8.97 euros per square metre. Year-on-year, this corresponds to an increase of 2.7 per cent. In the metropolitan areas, quarterly changes were largely moderate. Leipzig recorded the highest increase with 0.8 per cent, followed by Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart with 0.6 per cent each. Berlin was the only metropolitan area with a slight decrease of 0.2 per cent. Munich remains the most expensive city at 20.12 euros per square metre, significantly exceeding prices in Stuttgart (15.32 euros) and Frankfurt am Main (15.13 euros). For new-build flats, nationwide asking rents rose by 1 per cent to 13.28 euros per square metre, with a year-on-year increase of 1.8 per cent. Düsseldorf (+1.1 per cent) and Hamburg (+1.0 per cent) showed the strongest increases here.
The increase in ancillary costs is having an growing impact on effective housing costs. Year-on-year, ancillary costs in unrenovated existing flats rose by 3.8 per cent to an average of 3.28 euros per square metre. In renovated new-build flats, these costs were 3.02 euros per square metre and increased by only 0.6 per cent over the same period. Ancillary costs in unrenovated properties are therefore developing more dynamically than net cold rents and represent an additional cost factor for tenants in such properties.
