The Berlin rent index 2026: what the location grade means for your rent

In short. The rent index is the table from which the local comparative rent can be read off in Berlin. The location grade is one of its features, alongside year of construction, size and fittings. For owners who let and for tenants it is therefore a building block of every rent calculation; for the purchase price it is not.

What is the Berlin rent index?

Anyone in Berlin who wants to raise a rent or agree a new one needs a benchmark. The law calls it the local comparative rent (section 558 BGB). The Berlin rent index makes this benchmark readable: it sorts flats into cells by location grade, year of construction and floor area and gives a range for each cell with a lower value, a mean value and an upper value. The values apply to flats with central heating, a bathroom and a WC inside the flat; flats with simpler fittings receive a deduction. It is published by the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing; the current one, the rent index 2026, has applied since 28 May 2026 and reflects rents as at the reference date of 1 September 2025. It applies to flats that are not subject to rent controls in blocks of flats completed by the end of 2024; detached and semi-detached houses, terraced houses and new buildings from 2025 are not covered.

The rent index 2026 is a qualified rent index within the meaning of section 558d BGB: drawn up according to recognised scientific principles and recognised by the Senate Department and by the Berlin tenants' and landlords' associations. In court it is therefore presumed that its values reflect the local comparative rent (section 558d subsection 3 BGB). Where within the range an individual flat falls depends on features such as a second bathroom or the lack of a lift, and these are often disputed in court. More about the rent cap can be found in our guide.

The three location grades: basic, medium, good

The rent index recognises three location grades: basic, medium and good. The location grade is one of the features by which a flat is placed in the table, and therefore a building block of the local comparative rent. The Senate Department decides which address receives which grade; this is published in the street directory to the rent index 2026 and as the dataset "Wohnlagen nach Adressen" in the Berlin Geoportal.

How Berlin is distributed across the location grades

The rent index 2026 rates 400,505 Berlin addresses, data as at 16 September 2026. The medium location grade is the most common, with 200,341 addresses, or 50.0 per cent. 82,544 addresses (20.6 per cent) are in a good location and 117,620 (29.4 per cent) in a basic one.

Location grades of Berlin addresses in the rent index 2026

Wohnlage (residential location rating)	Addresses	Share
good	82,544	20.6 per cent
medium	200,341	50.0 per cent
basic	117,620	29.4 per cent

How to place your flat

Step one is the address: in our location map enter the street and house number or click on a street. A central line means that both sides of the street are rated the same; offset lines show different sides. The assignment in the Senate Department's street directory or in the enquiry service at mietspiegel.berlin.de is authoritative.

Step two is the table: location grade, year of construction and floor area lead to the right cell of the rent index. The guidance to the rent index looks at five groups of features (bathroom, kitchen, flat, building, surroundings). If features that raise the value predominate in a group, 20 per cent of the distance between the mean value and the upper value of the range is added; if features that lower it predominate, 20 per cent of the distance to the lower value is deducted. The groups are offset against each other. According to the Senate Department, the guidance is not part of the qualified section of the rent index, but serves as a basis for estimating the position within the range. The rent calculator works out both from the address and also shows the limit set by the rent cap.

Step three is the record: before letting, note in writing how you place the flat in the rent index. If a tenant objects later, you can use it to support your classification.

What the location grade does not tell you

The location grade is not a judgement on the purchase price. It belongs to the rent calculation. What a property fetches on sale is shown by comparable sales in the area; how we assess this is explained in the guide Market price estimate in Berlin. Whether a building lies in a social preservation area is not stated in the rent index either: Berlin has 82 social preservation areas, and 51,633 addresses lie within them (map, our own analysis of the address points, as at 16/09/2026).

Sources and as-of date

• Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing: Berlin rent index, rent index 2026
• Section 558 German Civil Code (BGB), rent increases up to the local comparative rent
• Section 558c BGB, rent index
• Section 558d BGB, qualified rent index
• § 556d BGB, rent cap on re-letting
• Berlin Rent Limitation Ordinance of 11 November 2025 (GVBl. 2025 No. 34, p. 577), issued under § 556d paragraph 2 of the German Civil Code (BGB), in force from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2029 for the entire city area; reasoning in the Official Gazette for Berlin No. 48 of 21 November 2025, p. 3080

The Berlin figures come from these pages of our website:

• Location map of Berlin, 400,505 addresses, 82,544 in a good location (20.6 %), as at 16/09/2026
• Social preservation areas in Berlin, 82 areas, 51,633 addresses within them (our own analysis)
• Rent cap in Berlin, rent index as a qualified rent index, whole city until 31/12/2029
• Rent calculator Berlin, rent index 2026, guidance, rent cap

Sources read on 28 October 2026.