The average rent for a square meter apartment in Germany is EUR 8.70. In addition, there are the electricity costs – and this year for many a high additional heating cost payment.
Statistics take into account rents and income as well as apartment sizes
When it comes to the statistics, rental apartments cost about the same everywhere in Germany in relation to disposable income, the associated purchasing power and the general cost of living. Surprisingly, this even applies to the most expensive city, Munich. Here, too, according to several surveys, the rental burden is 28 percent of the disposable income – which is also particularly high at around 62,000 euros. In Bavaria, the cheapest apartment rent is in the Oberfränkischer Hof, where the lowest rents are even charged nationwide.
Lower to middle incomes and pensioners are often more heavily burdened
People with lower and middle monthly incomes (in the range of 2,000 to 2,500 euros and below), many of whom are pensioners, have problems with the rent. In general, there are big differences in the general cost of living. They make up about 25 percent when comparing Munich and parts of eastern Germany.
Renters have more living space in rural areas
There are also differences in the living space, which averages 55.5 square meters per person nationwide, so that a married couple without children lives in 111 square meters. This, in turn, is often not the case in large cities where living conditions are more cramped.
On the other hand, if you move to the country to have more space with your family with children, you have to plan for higher mobility costs, such as for longer car journeys. On the other hand, if you don’t need a car in the city because of the well-developed local public transport system, you can actually live cheaper in some cities than in the country.
Singles pay a third of the rent – couples only a good fifth
Another important factor is whether you live alone or with others. The rent burden in one-person households, at 32.7 percent of disposable income, is significantly higher than in households with two or three people (22.8 percent). The burden only increases again with four or more people and amounts to an average of 23.4 percent of household income.