Buying a home Germany

What would this house cost you every month, and for how long?

A German mortgage is quoted as two rates and no term. This works out the payment they produce, how long it runs, what is left when the fixed rate ends, and how much of your income it would take - then draws the debt falling so you can see when the shape changes.

The purchase

Choosing a state fills in the two costs that depend on it. Both stay editable, because a private sale has no agent and a rate can be negotiated.

Purchase price€What the seller is asking, before any of the costs below. Example: a listed 450,000 house costs about 504,000 to actually buy in North Rhine-Westphalia. Federal stateSets the land transfer tax and the usual agent share. Example: the same house costs about 13,500 more in Brandenburg than in Bavaria, on the tax alone. Equity€Cash you bring, including whatever pays the purchase costs. Example: banks want the costs covered from equity and usually another 10 to 20 percent of the price. Interest rate%The Sollzins your bank quotes, per year. Example: half a point on a 400,000 loan is about 165 a month. Initial repayment rate%The anfängliche Tilgung. It is not a term: with this rate the loan runs , and 3.42 would clear it in twenty years. Net household income€Everything that arrives each month, from both earners. Example: leave it at zero to skip the affordability read entirely.

After the fixed rate

Fixed-rate periodYears the Sollzins is locked, after which the rest is refinanced at whatever exists then. Example: ten years is the common choice, fifteen costs a little more and removes the risk for longer. Refinancing rate after the fixed period%Optional scenario, not a forecast. Leave it empty and the calculator stops all whole-loan claims when the fixed rate ends. Example: entering 6 instead of today's rate shows what the remaining debt would then cost. Yearly overpayment%Sondertilgung, as a share of the original loan. Example: most contracts allow 5 percent a year with no penalty, and using it every year takes years off the term.

Purchase costs, item by item

Land transfer tax%Set by the state, from 3.5 to 6.5 percent. Example: Bavaria charges 3.5, North Rhine-Westphalia 6.5. Estate agent%Your half of the commission, including VAT. Example: set it to zero for a private sale or a new build sold directly by the developer. Notary%Scaled by a national fee table, near 1.5 percent on an ordinary purchase. Example: it is not optional – a German property sale is void without a notary. Land registry%The entry that makes you the owner, about half a percent. Example: it is charged again if you later change the mortgage on the property.

Initial payment during the fixed-rate contract

€1,887 €404,315 borrowed against a purchase costing €504,315 in total

What the purchase costs on top of the price, in Nordrhein-Westfalen
Cost	Rate	Amount
Land transfer tax	6.5 %	€29,250
Estate agent	3.57 %	€16,065
Notary	1.5 %	€6,750
Land registry	0.5 %	€2,250
Purchase costs		€54,315
Total to find		€504,315

Still owed when the fixed rate ends€307,154after 10 years, to be refinanced at whatever rate exists then

Interest during the fixed-rate period€129,256covered by the entered contractual rate

Loan against price89.85 %the ratio your rate is priced from – under 80 percent is cheaper

Equity left after the costs€45,685what is actually available to reduce the loan

What you still owe, year by year

Years · the chart stops where the entered contractual rate ends

Where each year of payments goes

InterestRepayment

Only years covered by the entered fixed rate are shown

The contractual fixed-rate period, year by year

Year	Paid	Interest	Repayment	Still owed
1	€22,642	€14,421	€8,221	€396,094
2	€22,642	€14,120	€8,522	€387,572
3	€22,642	€13,808	€8,834	€378,738
4	€22,642	€13,484	€9,157	€369,581
5	€22,642	€13,149	€9,492	€360,089
6	€22,642	€12,802	€9,840	€350,249
7	€22,642	€12,442	€10,200	€340,049
8	€22,642	€12,068	€10,573	€329,476
9	€22,642	€11,681	€10,960	€318,516
10	€22,642	€11,280	€11,361	€307,154

The payment covers the loan and nothing else. A house also costs maintenance, heating, property tax and, in a flat, the Hausgeld – budget one to one and a half percent of the price a year on top before deciding what you can carry.

Compare overpaying it against investing

What this answers

What the two quoted rates actually commit you to

A German mortgage is sold as a Sollzins and an anfängliche Tilgung, and neither is a term. Together they fix a payment; the term falls out of them, and a quarter point on the repayment rate moves it by years.

The number to watch

What is left when the fixed rate ends

Ten years of payments on a slow repayment rate can still leave three quarters of the loan outstanding, to be refinanced at a rate nobody can know today. That residual, not the monthly payment, is where the risk in this product lives.

What it does not answer

Whether the house is worth the price

This prices a loan, not a property. Location, condition, the energy certificate and what comparable homes actually sold for decide whether the price is sensible, and none of them are arithmetic.