Purchase costs come on top of the price

What can you afford?

Transfer tax, the notary and often an estate agent add 5.5 to 12 % to the price of a home in Germany, and lenders usually expect that part from your own money. Put in a price, your income or both: we add up the costs for your state, work out the loan and the monthly payment, and show what the 35 % rule of thumb reaches. Free, no sign-up.

Each state sets its own property transfer tax.
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Leave it empty to see what your income reaches.
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Savings you can put in, for the costs and the price.
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After tax and social contributions. Leave it empty to check a price only.
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Car loans, leases and other credit you already pay.
Is an estate agent involved?
If one is, the buyer usually pays part of the commission (Maklerprovision).
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The average for a loan fixed for 10 years, September 2026, provisional. Source: Deutsche Bundesbank. Our rates tracker →
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Of the loan a year, on top of the interest.
After that, what is still owed gets a new rate.
Optional: shows the age when the loan is repaid.

General information on your own numbers: rule-of-thumb arithmetic, not a loan offer, a credit decision or financial advice. Lenders assess creditworthiness themselves (§ 505a BGB) and value the property themselves, often below the price. A financing expert compares real offers for your situation.

What to know before you view

Before viewing, get to know how far your numbers can get you.

What a home really costs, and how much to borrow

▶ Play video · 3 min

  1. Keep an eye on the total cost

    Purchase costs come on top of the price: together about 5 to 12 % of it.

    Transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer). 3.5 to 6.5 % of the price, set by each state.

    The rate of the state the home is in applies, on the day you sign. The calculator above uses it.

    Notary and land registry. Up to about 2 %, the same at every notary.

    The law fixes these fees. They include registering your lender's land charge (Grundschuld).

    An estate agent (Makler), if there is one. Commonly 3.57 % for the buyer.

    For a flat or a single-family house, the buyer pays at most half of the agent's total commission (§§ 656c, 656d BGB).

  2. See what you can afford

    Most buyers borrow. The calculator above turns your income and savings into a loan, a monthly payment and a target price.

    How much of the price lenders finance. 80% to 90% of the total cost.

    A few lenders finance part of the purchase costs too. The more you borrow, the higher the rate.

    Your age sets the repayment. Lenders like a loan paid off by retirement.

    Put in the older buyer's age, and the calculator shows the age the loan is paid off at.

    Work out your numbers ↑

  3. Keep a margin

    A common rule of thumb: keep loan payments under about 35 % of your net income, and don't put all your savings into the purchase.

  4. A financing confirmation helps you secure more viewings

    Sellers and agents often ask for one before a viewing or a reservation to assess how serious you are. A financing expert can issue it: ask for one.

Next, the viewing: finding and checking a property. Every stage, in order: buying a home, step by step.

How the numbers are worked out

Plain arithmetic on what you enter. None of it decides whether anyone lends to you.

Purchase costs

  • Property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) at the rate of the state the property is in, below.
  • Notary and land registry at 2 % of the price, the top of the usual 1.5 to 2 %.
  • If an estate agent is involved, the buyer's share of the commission (Maklerprovision) at 3.57 %, a common figure including VAT.

The loan and the payment

  • The loan is the price plus the purchase costs, less your own funds.
  • The monthly payment is the loan times interest plus initial repayment, divided by twelve. It stays the same for the fixed period, while the interest share shrinks and the repayment share grows (an annuity loan).
  • What your income reaches starts from 35 % of net household income, less other loan and lease payments, as the monthly payment; then the loan that payment carries, and the price that loan and your own funds pay for once the purchase costs are added.

Property transfer tax by state

Rate States
3.5 % Bavaria
5 % Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia
5.5 % Bremen, Hamburg, Saxony
6 % Berlin, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
6.5 % Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein

Rates as of 26 September 2026. The rate of the state the property is in, on the day the contract is signed, applies.

Common questions

Everything you pay on top of the price. Property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) is set by each state, from 3.5 to 6.5 % of the price. Notary and land registry fees come to about 1.5 to 2 %, the same at every notary because the law fixes them. If an estate agent is involved, the buyer's share of the commission (Maklerprovision) is commonly 3.57 % including VAT. Together that is roughly 5.5 to 12 % of the price, before moving in or any renovation.

Because the costs buy nothing a lender can lend against. Its security is the property, which it values itself, often a little below the price (the Beleihungswert, or lending value). Tax, notary and agent fees are spent the day you buy, so lenders usually expect them to come from savings, and often part of the price as well. Some finance more, usually at a higher rate and with a closer look at income.

A common starting point: the monthly payments on all loans stay under about 35 % of net household income. The calculator uses it to turn an income into a payment, a loan and a price. It is not a lending decision. Every lender assesses creditworthiness itself (§ 505a BGB), looking at income, outgoings, job, residence status and the property, and may arrive at a higher or a lower figure.

It starts at 3.91 % a year, the Bundesbank's average for a loan fixed for 10 years in September 2026, unless you change it: an assumption, not a quote. Try a higher and a lower rate to see how much the payment moves. Actual rates depend on the lender, the fixed-rate period, how much of the price is borrowed and your own situation, and they change from week to week. Only a lender's offer shows the rate you would get.

Real offers. Lenders apply different policies to the same facts, such as a residence permit, a probation period or income in another currency, so the first question is often which lenders will accept an application at all. A financing expert puts one application to many lenders and compares actual offers for your situation. They need a licence as mortgage intermediaries (§ 34i GewO). We introduce you to one who works in English, and nothing more: we don't check your figures or prepare the application. The bank pays them a commission when you take out a loan. You pay us nothing. If you go ahead with them, they may pay us a referral fee. What they pay never decides who your request goes to.