Overview of Germany

On this page you will find links to details of Germany holiday homes for sale and Germany rental accommodation. The German rental market is now a stable and profitable one. The economy has a mature economic base dating back beyond unification of the capital, Berlin, back to WW2. The economic problems of unemployment resulting from unification impacted investors confidence - during the early 1990's unemployment was at 15%. As a result, growth in property prices has failed to keep pace with the rest of Europe's main holiday hotspots. However, as holiday home investors look beyond the Costa Blanca and German nationals attitude toward home ownership is also changing ... the traditional culture of renting (approximately 40% compared with 70% in the UK) is slowly being replaced by more German nationals and holiday buy to let investors flooding the market. The old property stock from the poorer East has created a mini housing bubble and the cost per square meter is on average five times lower than London at between 500 to 2,000 euros a square metre. In addition, the integration of European Unification laws and an established and proven notary legal system (the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch or BGB is the civil code of Germany) means holiday investors can have a higher degree of confidence that buying a German property will be relatively smooth and fraud and sharp practice reduced. Overseas property investors seeking holiday homes should start with the German version of the UK estate agent, the immobielien; holiday let landlords beware the immobielien management fee can be similar or greater than UK letting agent. For landlorsds, it is important you research the laws surrounding how rent is charged and tenants legal rights and responsibilities... if you are planning to let your holiday home purchase to German nationals, their expectations may differ form those of UK tenants. In particular, people tend to rent for much longer periods (sometimes up to 10 years) and therefore treat the property is if it were their own home. Most tenants will let unfurnished and bring their personal possessions with them. Short term lets such as as holiday home lets or executive lets would expect a property to be let furnished. Consequently, some tenancy laws have been created to protect tenants rights and mirror their expectations. In particular, most long term rental tenancy agreement contracts in Germany extend for an undefined period (whereas in the UK most would be a 6 month assured short hold tenancy agreement). For short term holiday home rentals this may be less of an issue - for long term investor landlords eviction process are more cumbersome). Unlike the UK, it is normal practice for the letting agency fee be paid by the tenant, (not the landlord) when a letting agreement is signed that exceeds one year (the maximum charge is two months rent plus local tax). It is imperative you obtain German holiday home insurance before any contract is signed. The normal practice in Germany is for tenants to sign up for an unlimited period in the tenancy agreement but with a three months termination notice period to the end of the third month. For longer term, lets you may ask your tenant to sign a long term agreement which they are legally bound to pay (even if they leave before the period has completed).