Buying a house in the Berlin surroundings

Real estate transfer tax in Brandenburg: 6.5 per cent

Since 1 July 2015, Brandenburg has charged a tax rate of 6.5 per cent. Berlin is at 6.0 per cent. The difference sounds small, but on a detached house it quickly costs a few thousand euros. The notary and land registry, by contrast, charge the same everywhere, under the nationwide Court and Notary Costs Act.

Example, rounded. Notary and land register costs are typical values between 1.5 and 2.0 per cent. The agent's commission of 3.57 per cent is the buyer's share customary in Berlin; around Berlin it can differ, and the brochure is what counts.

Banks generally do not finance these additional costs. So you need the €53,415 from the example on top of the equity for the purchase price. How much that should be in total is covered in the guide Equity when buying a property.

Commuting: S-Bahn, regional train, car

The journey time into the city is where purchases outside Berlin are most often regretted afterwards. So try the route before you buy, at rush hour and with the means of transport you will actually use.

Roughly, three types of location can be distinguished. Places with an S-Bahn connection, such as Oranienburg on the S1 or Potsdam on the S7, are linked to the Berlin network without changing. Places on regional rail lines, for example Zossen or Beelitz, are often quicker to reach, but with a less frequent service. And places without rail, where you need the car for almost every journey. Kleinmachnow, for example, has no S-Bahn station of its own; the way there leads by bus or car to the stations of neighbouring towns.

Everyday life involves more journeys than the one to work. How far are the nursery, primary school and secondary school? Is there a supermarket you can reach without a car, and a GP practice that takes new patients? In growing municipalities around Berlin, the last point in particular is not a given. Ask at the town hall which schools and nurseries cover your address.

Include the costs in your sums. A second car, a parking space at the station, a season ticket: these are ongoing expenses that a bank also sees in its household calculation. For an overview of the towns around Berlin, see our page on the Berlin surroundings.

Development plan, built-up area, outlying area

What may be built on a plot is decided by the municipality's planning law. There are three cases. Within the scope of a development plan (Bebauungsplan), whatever the plan sets out applies (§ 30 BauGB, German Building Code): footprint, number of storeys, roof shape, sometimes even the colour of the tiles. In a built-up area without a plan, a building must fit in with its immediate surroundings (§ 34 BauGB). In the outlying area, residential use is permitted only as an exception (§ 35 BauGB).

For you, this means: if you want to extend, put up a garden house or later build a second house on the plot, ask the building authority of the municipality or Amt before you buy. Also check there whether a new development plan is being drawn up. And ask for an extract from the register of building encumbrances (Baulastenverzeichnis), which in Brandenburg is kept by the lower building supervisory authority of the district or independent city. It lists obligations that do not appear in the land register, such as a right of way in favour of a neighbour.

A special case is houses in former weekend-house or allotment areas. Permanent residence is not allowed everywhere there. Before you plan to register your main residence, this question should be settled in writing.

Servicing: who pays for the road

Servicing (Erschließung) means road, water, sewage and electricity. When a road is built for the first time, the municipality may charge the adjoining owners development charges (§§ 127 ff. BauGB, German Building Code). It bears at least 10 per cent of the costs itself and can pass on the rest. For unmade tracks and estate roads that were never fully completed, this is not unusual around Berlin.

So ask the municipality in writing whether development charges for the plot have been settled or are still outstanding. In the purchase contract, settle who pays charges demanded after the purchase. It is common to agree that the seller bears everything built up to the day of the notary appointment.

Sewage deserves a second look. Not every house around Berlin is connected to the sewer. A cesspit has to be emptied regularly, a small sewage treatment plant serviced. Ask the responsible wastewater association or utility whether a connection is planned and what charges would then fall due.

Standard land values: BORIS Brandenburg

You can estimate the value of the plot without the house yourself. The valuation committees (Gutachterausschüsse) of the districts and independent cities determine standard land values (Bodenrichtwerte) from sales that were actually notarised. For Brandenburg they are available free of charge in the BORIS Brandenburg portal; for Berlin, our guide to the standard land value in Berlin explains the way.

The standard value lets you check how much of the purchase price falls on the house. An example with assumed values:

Assumed values. The standard land value is an average for a zone. The location, shape and size of the individual plot can differ from it.

For houses themselves there are no standard values like those for land. However, the valuation committees publish annual property market reports with purchase prices for detached and two-family houses in their area. These are based on notarised purchase contracts, that is, what was actually paid. Asking prices from portals are not included.

Does €240,000 fit the year of construction, condition and living space of the house? If not, you know where to negotiate.

Contamination and ground conditions

Brandenburg has a long history as a site for the military, industry and agriculture. On some plots, traces of this have remained in the ground. The lower soil protection authority of the district can tell you whether a plot is recorded as a suspected contaminated site. The enquiry costs little and is a must for undeveloped plots or planned groundwork.

Then there is unexploded ordnance. In parts of Brandenburg, Oranienburg being the best-known example, unexploded Second World War bombs still lie in the ground. If you build new or dig deep, clarify beforehand whether proof that the site is free of ordnance is required. How a contaminated-land enquiry works in Berlin is covered in the guide Contaminated land register Berlin.

Land register, neighbours and surroundings

Section II of the land register (Grundbuch) lists third-party rights over the plot. For houses outside the city, you more often find a right of way for the plot behind, a right of way for electricity or gas lines, or a right of residence for former owners. Each of these rights remains in place after the purchase unless it is deleted in the contract. Read the extract line by line, and ask the notary if anything is unclear.

What is not in the land register, you only see on site. Walk the plot: do the fence and garage stand where the boundary runs? Talk to the neighbours. Ask about groundwater and damp cellars, about heavy rain in recent years, and whether a well is permitted. The same goes for noise as for the commute: try it out. A railway line, a country road or a flight path may not be audible at a viewing on a Sunday lunchtime.

What to check at every viewing is set out in our viewing checklist.

Heating and energy: what has applied since July 2026

Since 29 July 2026, the Building Modernisation Act (Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz) has applied. It replaced the previous Building Energy Act. Three points matter for buyers of an existing house.

The earlier requirement to use 65 per cent renewable energy when replacing a heating system no longer applies. However, anyone installing a new gas or oil heating system must run it on climate-neutral fuels in stages: at least 10 per cent from 2029, at least 15 per cent from 2030, at least 30 per cent from 2035 and at least 60 per cent from 2040. These fuels cost more than natural gas or heating oil. If you buy a house with a fairly recent gas or oil heating system, ask for the year of installation and have someone check whether the stages apply to that system. The seller's heating bill only shows the past.

After a change of owner, small retrofit obligations apply to detached and two-family houses, such as insulating the top-floor ceiling and the heating pipes, if that has not been done yet. Have an energy consultant confirm the deadline.

The seller must show you the energy performance certificate at the latest at the viewing. What it contains and how to read it is explained in the guide Energy performance certificate.

Sources

• Act on setting the tax rate for real estate transfer tax of the State of Brandenburg, 6.5 per cent since 1 July 2015; Brandenburg tax offices on real estate transfer tax
• Senatsverwaltung für Finanzen Berlin (Berlin Senate Department for Finance), real estate transfer tax rate 6.0%
• § 30, § 34 and § 35 Baugesetzbuch (German Building Code), permissibility of projects
• § 127 and § 129 Baugesetzbuch (German Building Code), development charge and municipality's own share
• BORIS Brandenburg, standard land values of the valuation committees in the State of Brandenburg
• Consumer advice centre: what is in the Building Modernisation Act?, as of 21 August 2026
• Court and Notary Costs Act, notary and land registry fees uniform across Germany