Average Rent in Berlin: What the 2024 Mietspiegel Really Shows

Anyone researching average rent in Berlin runs into wildly different numbers online. The reason is simple: listing portals mostly show asking rents for vacant flats, while the official Mietspiegel reflects the full stock of existing Berlin tenancies. Both figures are correct, they just answer different questions.

The official 2024 Mietspiegel: 7.21 euros per square metre

The Berlin Mietspiegel 2024, published by the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing, puts the average net cold rent (Nettokaltmiete) at 7.21 euros per square metre. That is five cents above the previous year's 7.16 euros, a rise of roughly 0.7 percent. It is based on around 16,000 rent and fitting-out data points, representative of about 1.4 million non-price-controlled flats across the city.

This figure applies to existing tenancies, meaning contracts where the tenant has already been living there for a while. It is the legal benchmark landlords use when raising rent within a running contract, and the reference point for the rent brake (Mietpreisbremse) on new lettings.

Why newly advertised flats cost noticeably more

Across Germany, the Federal Institute for Building, Urban and Regional Research (BBSR) tracks a clear gap between existing-contract rent and asking rent for new lettings: in 2025, the average existing rent was 7.76 euros per square metre, while newly listed flats averaged 11.11 euros, a premium of about 43 percent. In big cities like Berlin, this gap tends to be even more visible, because so many tenancies here have run for years and rent increases are capped by law (the Kappungsgrenze), while new contracts are priced at whatever the current market will bear.

If you're actively searching for a flat in Berlin right now, the Mietspiegel average isn't the number to benchmark against. Compare instead against current listings for similar flats in the location, age, and condition you're looking for.

How rent varies by apartment size

Based on the Mietspiegel average of 7.21 euros per square metre, net cold rent for different apartment sizes works out to roughly:

1-room apartment (35 sqm): around €252
2-room apartment (60 sqm): around €433
3-room apartment (85 sqm): around €613

These figures apply to existing flats in an average location. In sought-after central districts or new-builds, the per-square-metre price is often considerably higher; in outer districts, it's often lower. For a closer look at how price varies by district, see our rent prices across Berlin's districts, and for a breakdown by room count, our Berlin rent budget by apartment size.

What gets added on top of the cold rent

The net cold rent shown in the Mietspiegel isn't what actually leaves your account each month. On top of it comes the monthly advance payment for additional costs (Nebenkosten). According to the German Tenants' Association's operating-cost index, nationwide Nebenkosten average 2.28 euros per square metre, with a ceiling of 2.87 euros when every chargeable cost category is fully passed through. For a 60-square-metre flat in Berlin, that works out to a total rent (Warmmiete) of roughly €570 to €610.

If you're weighing a newly advertised flat against this average, our guide to Berlin's new-letting versus existing-rent gap explains why asking rents run so far ahead of the Mietspiegel number.

Frequently Asked Questions

How high is the average rent in Berlin according to the 2024 Mietspiegel?

7.21 euros per square metre in net cold rent for existing flats, according to the Mietspiegel 2024 published by Berlin's Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing.

Why do Mietspiegel and listed asking rents differ so much?

The Mietspiegel reflects existing rents in running contracts, while property portals mostly show asking rents for flats being newly let. Nationwide, the BBSR puts that gap at around 43 percent.