Frankfurt pays banker salaries and charges banker prices, with 6 percent transfer tax and a hinterland half its workforce commutes from. For investors the city is expensive; the Taunus and the Wetterau are the alternative.
Buy or rent?
28.3 years of rentpurchase price divided by annual cold rentBetween 25 and 30 it is balanced: buying pays off with a long horizon and equity.
milinia’s take
- Transfer tax 6 percent: at €500,000 that is €30,000, more than the agent.
- Commuting from Mainz, Darmstadt, Hanau or Bad Vilbel saves 30 percent of rent at 25 minutes on the S-Bahn.
- Salaries in banks, consulting and law firms sit 30 percent above the national average, normal in other sectors.
- Rental yield 3.5 percent in the city, 4.5 in Offenbach and Hanau.
Living
Existing flats cost €5,600 per square metre, in the Westend and Nordend over €8,000, in Höchst and Griesheim around €4,000. New lettings at €16.50 excluding utilities, the Europaviertel and the new builds in the Ostend over €20. Frankfurt has 780,000 inhabitants on a small area and a metropolitan region of five million; the price differences between city and hinterland are larger than in any other region. Offenbach, on the rise for ten years, sits at €3,800 per square metre with a 4.5 percent yield.
Earning
Median €5,200 gross, noticeably more in banks, insurance, consulting and law firms; the airport and the chemical industry in the south pay collectively agreed wages. The purchasing power index of 118 is high. Frankfurt has the highest share of inbound commuters in Germany: more than 400,000 people travel into the city daily from the hinterland, which drives rents there and property prices in the Taunus.
Taxes and levies
Hesse charges 6 percent transfer tax. The trade tax multiplier of 460 percent is moderate for a big city, the property tax multiplier after the reform 500 percent. Church tax 9 percent. In the hinterland municipalities compete for company seats with trade tax multipliers around 350 percent, Eschborn with 280.
Investing
Frankfurt counts as cyclical because the financial industry swings; prices have fallen around 12 percent since 2022 and are stabilising. For investors Offenbach, Hanau and the Wetterau are interesting with yields above 4.5 percent and S-Bahn links. Whoever buys in the city chooses the Nordend, Bornheim and Sachsenhausen for value retention or the Gallus and Ostend for catch-up potential.
milinia’s view
Frankfurt is an earners’ city with an investors’ hinterland. Whoever works here and lives in Offenbach or Mainz has the best sums in the region.
Try it yourself
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