An analysis by the property portal immowelt for Germany’s 15 largest cities shows how sharply asking prices for owner-occupied flats fall as the distance from the city increases:
- Dresden leads: buyers pay 52 per cent less for a flat within the 60-minute commuter belt than in the city; for Frankfurt and Cologne the figure is 51 per cent in each case
- Munich: a one-hour commute delivers the greatest absolute saving here – around 3,700 euros per square metre (46 per cent)
- Moving out of the city also pays off in Berlin and Stuttgart: flats within the 60-minute commuter belt cost 30 and 24 per cent less respectively
- Even a 45-minute commute can be worthwhile: in Hamburg, buyers save 43 per cent
Owner-occupied flats in major cities are now barely affordable for many households. An analysis by the property portal immowelt shows that those prepared to move outside the city can make substantial savings. The amount, however, depends greatly on how far away they move. Within a 60-minute radius, prices are up to 52 per cent lower than in the city, while the price advantage in the nearer surrounding area is often considerably smaller.
The analysis examined asking prices for owner-occupied flats in municipalities within both a 45-minute radius and a wider 60-minute radius of the respective city centres. Within the 60-minute radius, Dresden offers the largest saving at 52 per cent: instead of 2,946 euros per square metre in the city, buyers pay an average of just 1,405 euros in the wider surrounding area. Frankfurt and Cologne follow closely, each offering savings of around 51 per cent. Leipzig records a similarly high figure of 49 per cent.
“Owner-occupied flats in Germany’s most expensive major cities and their suburbs are now barely affordable for many households,” says immowelt Managing Director Theo Mseka. “The picture is often better in the wider surrounding areas. Those who expand their search radius will find noticeably cheaper properties.”
Munich offers the greatest absolute saving
While buyers in the wider Dresden area save the most in percentage terms, Munich leads on the absolute saving. Buyers pay an average of 8,078 euros per square metre for an owner-occupied flat in Munich itself, compared with 4,364 euros within the 60-minute commuter belt. This is a saving of 3,714 euros per square metre (-46 per cent), more than in any of the other 15 cities examined.
The absolute saving is also high around Frankfurt and Hamburg. For Frankfurt, prices fall from 5,564 to 2,730 euros per square metre, a difference of 2,834 euros or -51 per cent; in Hamburg, they fall from 6,014 to 3,247 euros, a difference of 2,767 euros or -46 per cent.
Noticeably cheaper after just 45 minutes, but not everywhere
Those who do not want to commute for a full hour do not necessarily have to forgo savings. In Hamburg, flats within a 45-minute radius already cost 43 per cent less than in the city. The shorter journey is also worthwhile in Frankfurt (-40 per cent) and Cologne (-37 per cent).
In Dresden (-31 per cent) and Leipzig (-29 per cent), by contrast, the saving in the nearer surrounding area is noticeably smaller than within the 60-minute radius. The differences from the city are smaller still within the 45-minute commuter belts of Nuremberg (-17 per cent), Stuttgart and Dortmund (-9 per cent each).
The Ruhr area as a special case
For Essen, prices within the 45-minute commuter belt are almost level with those in the city (-2 per cent); around Duisburg, the surrounding area is actually 30 per cent more expensive. This special case is due to the Ruhr area’s particular structure, with several major cities close together: Duisburg, Essen, Dortmund, Düsseldorf and Cologne can all be reached from one another within an hour. Their catchment areas therefore overlap. The area around Duisburg also includes expensive Düsseldorf suburbs such as Meerbusch (4,431 euros per square metre), Ratingen (3,467 euros) and Hilden (3,536 euros). Geographically, the analysis assigns these municipalities to the Duisburg catchment area, although economically they belong more to the Düsseldorf area. Because Duisburg itself is comparatively inexpensive, this makes its surrounding area noticeably more expensive than the city: owner-occupied flats cost an average of 2,696 euros per square metre in the 45-minute zone and 2,600 euros in the 60-minute zone, compared with 2,076 euros within Duisburg itself.
Basis of calculation
The purchase-price calculations were based on properties advertised on immowelt.de in Germany’s 15 largest cities and their surrounding areas. The values calculated using hedonic methods show the price per square metre for owner-occupied flats as at 1 July 2026. They are asking prices, not transaction prices.
To determine purchase prices in the areas surrounding the cities, the analysis considered municipalities within 60 and 45 minutes’ driving time of the city centre that have fewer than 100,000 inhabitants.