How much flat can I get in Berlin for my money?

From budget to square metre

The calculation is simple: purchase price divided by the price per square metre gives the floor space. €400,000 divided by €6,643 is 60.2 square metres in Mitte. In Spandau, where the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) gives a mean of €3,737 per square metre, the same sum gives 107 square metres. The most expensive district is therefore at just under 1.8 times the cheapest.

What matters is what you mean by budget. The tables on this page calculate with the purchase price. If your amount covers everything together, deduct the additional costs first. In Berlin these are around 11.57% of the purchase price: 6.0% real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer), a cautiously estimated 2% for notary and land register and 3.57% buyer's commission. A total budget of €400,000 thus becomes a purchase price of €358,519 (400,000 divided by 1.1157). That is enough for 54.0 square metres in Mitte and 95.9 in Spandau.

€300,000, €400,000, €500,000: floor space by district

The table divides three purchase prices by the mean asking price per district, sorted from the most to the least expensive district.

Source: IBB housing market report 2025, table volume, table 27, mean asking purchase prices for owner-occupied flats, 2025 edition. Calculation: purchase price divided by euros per square metre, rounded to one decimal place. Excluding additional purchase costs. * The Spandau figure comes from a price band that is open at the bottom and is therefore less certain.

Two groups stand out. Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Pankow are close together, between €6,318 and €6,643. For €400,000 you get a good 60 square metres in each of them. If you are looking for 80 square metres for a family, you need a mean purchase price of €505,000 to €531,000 in these four districts.

On the edge of the city the picture flips. In Reinickendorf, Marzahn-Hellersdorf and Spandau, €400,000 buys on paper 91 to 107 square metres. In between lies a broad middle field from Lichtenberg to Treptow-Köpenick.

As a rough rule of thumb for Berlin as a whole: at the mean of €5,789, every €100,000 of purchase price gives about 17.3 square metres.

Asking prices are not purchase prices

The IBB analyses what sellers ask for in listings. What ends up in the notarised purchase contract can be below or above that. The figures are still suitable for comparing districts, because they were collected using the same method for all twelve.

Prices vary widely within a district. Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf stretches from Halensee to the Grunewald, Treptow-Köpenick from new builds in Adlershof to the period building (Altbau) in Alt-Treptow. Year of construction, condition, floor and whether the flat is let often shift the price more than the district does. The mean therefore shows you where you can search with your budget. It does not say what a particular flat costs.

A caveat applies to Spandau: the IBB reports the value in a price band that is open at the bottom. It has therefore been calculated only approximately.

Reading living space correctly

A square metre is not always a square metre. If living space is calculated under the Living Space Ordinance (Wohnflächenverordnung), balconies, loggias and terraces generally count at only a quarter, at most half (§ 4 WoFlV). Areas under sloping roofs with a clear height between one and two metres count at half, lower ones not at all. A balcony of 8 square metres therefore usually adds 2 square metres of living space.

The brochure does not always state which rule was used. Ask about the living space calculation before you compare prices per square metre. In attic flats, the area you can actually furnish and use can differ noticeably from the figure in the listing.

From income to purchase price

If you do not yet know your budget, start with the buying power check above. It works backwards: what payment can you carry, what loan does that give, and what purchase price is left after the additional costs? With the preset values the workings look like this:

Example with an assumed interest rate and 2% initial repayment, not an offer. Your bank's borrowing rate and APR may differ; the bank only quotes binding terms after reviewing your documents.

For €345,848, the table gives 52.1 square metres in Mitte, 54.7 in Pankow and 92.5 in Spandau. In the check you move the share for the loan between 25% and 40%. As a rule of thumb, our affordability calculator gives 30 to 40% of net household income. What is actually possible depends on your fixed outgoings, and the bank checks those itself. The detailed household calculation is on the page How much property can I afford?

More equity has a weaker effect than you might think: €10,000 more equity raises the possible purchase price by only about €8,960. The rest is used up by real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer), notary, land register and commission, which grow with the price.

If you buy as a couple, enter the combined net household income. With €6,000 instead of €4,500 net and otherwise identical values, the payment rises to €2,100, the loan to €434,483 and the possible purchase price to €443,204. That is 70.1 square metres in Pankow, 66.7 in Mitte and 118.6 in Spandau. The bank will then, however, take both incomes into account, and both of you sign the loan.

What interest costs in floor space

The check is preset to a 3.8% nominal interest rate. The Deutsche Bundesbank reports an average effective rate of 3.81% to 4.40% for August 2026, depending on the fixed-rate period. If you enter 4.4% instead of 3.8%, the same payment of €1,575 supports a loan of only about €295,300. The possible purchase price falls by a good €27,000 to €318,466.

In Pankow that is 50.4 instead of 54.7 square metres. A good four square metres sounds like little, but with a tight budget it often tips the balance between two flats. So compare listings before you commit to a flat, and calculate with an interest rate at the upper end of the range.

What comes on top of the payment every month

The buying power check calculates only with interest and repayment. As the owner of a flat you also pay service charge (Hausgeld) to the owners' association. It covers running costs such as heating, water and refuse collection, the management and the contribution to the maintenance reserve. Property tax is charged separately.

The service charge is stated in the association's budget plan (Wirtschaftsplan). You already pay part of it today as a tenant through your ancillary costs; the rest you budget for on top of the payment. If you set the share for the loan in the check to 40%, there is little room for it.

For older buildings, the question of upcoming work belongs here too. The minutes of owners' meetings show whether the roof, façade or heating will soon cost money. How to read these documents is explained in the guide Buying a flat in Berlin.

If the budget is not enough in your preferred district

If the floor space in your preferred district stays too small, it is worth looking at the neighbouring areas. Lichtenberg borders Friedrichshain and, at a mean of €5,550 per square metre, is around 15% below Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. In the west the jump from Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf to Spandau is even larger. Which district suits your daily life is answered by the district check.

For smaller budgets there is the overview Buy a flat under €300,000. If you are thinking beyond the city limits, you will find pointers on Potsdam and Oranienburg. If you are looking for a house rather than a flat, the calculation is different, as the plot and the standard land value (Bodenrichtwert) help determine the price there; pointers are under Buy a house in Berlin. With a search profile you receive new listings in your price range by email as soon as they come in to us.

Sources

• Investitionsbank Berlin, IBB housing market report 2025, asking purchase prices for owner-occupied flats by district
• IBB housing market report 2025, table volume (PDF), table 27; floor space per budget calculated by BBI
• Deutsche Bundesbank: residential mortgage loans to households, effective interest rates on new business (August 2026, provisional, as of 1 October 2026)
• § 4 Wohnflächenverordnung (Living Space Ordinance), inclusion of floor areas
• BBI: Additional purchase costs in Berlin (6.0% real estate transfer tax, 1.5 to 2.0% notary and land register, 3.57% buyer's commission)
• All sources accessed on 28 October 2026.