Renting a flat in Germany
Eight city guides built from one table of figures: the median asking rent for a one-bedroom flat, the usual deposit and the average commute to the centre. The table is the same for every city. What differs is everything the table does not say, and that is what each guide is for.
The German rental market is not one market. A flat in Leipzig is found in a week and a flat in Munich in four months, with the same folder of documents and the same effort. Rents differ by a factor of two between cities three hours apart by train, and the customs differ with them: whether a kitchen comes with the flat, whether the landlord expects a letter, whether a cooperative is worth the wait.
Each guide starts with the three figures and then answers the questions that newcomers ask in the order they ask them. Which districts have flats that change hands. What a landlord wants to see at a viewing. When in the year to search, and when not to. What the advert leaves out and how to find it out before signing.
The figures are updated once a quarter from the same spreadsheet. If a guide and the spreadsheet ever disagree, the spreadsheet is right and the guide is out of date. Read the page about these guides for how the figures are collected and what they deliberately leave out, such as furnished short lets and flats let through employers.