Rented flats in big cities like Berlin are rare and usually expensive. For people looking for a flat who have enough equity, it may therefore be better to buy a condominium. For the same monthly budget, buyers often get almost as much living space as tenants, sometimes even more. This is the result of a study by the internet portal Immoscout24, which was published on Thursday.

According to the study, in Germany's 40 largest cities, for a monthly budget of 1,000 to 1,200 euros, home seekers receive an average of 90 square metres of living space when renting a flat and 83 square metres of living space when buying a flat. The difference is therefore hardly significant.

In Berlin, according to Immoscout, a budget of 1,000 to 1,200 euros per month can finance a rental flat with 65.2 square metres or a condominium with 62.6 square metres. Difference: 2.6 square metres. The study included all flats that were offered for rent or sale on Immoscout in the period from November 2023 to January 2024.

For the purposes of the analysis, it was assumed that 20 per cent of the purchase price of a flat is contributed as equity. The remainder of the purchase price is financed via a loan with an interest rate of 3.49 per cent, a term of 15 years and two per cent repayment. According to Immoscout, this corresponds to a purchase price of 275,000 to 325,000 euros for a condominium.

Interesting fact: According to Immoscout, demand for rental flats in the 40 largest cities is 21 times higher than for condominiums. According to the data, competition is particularly strong in Hamburg and Berlin, where there are around 60 times more enquiries for rental flats than for flats for sale.

In addition to having more time to choose, the competition is much lower and you have to make fewer compromises.