Students: How To Find Somewhere To Live In Germany.
You are a student and have made the decision to study in Germany. Now you need to find somewhere to live. So where do you look?
Germany is home to a number of leading global universities. The likes of LMU, TUM, and Heidelberg consistently make it into a number of top global rankings for higher education. It is therefore no wonder that of Germany’s 2.8m students, nearly 375,000 of them are international.
What are your options?
There are a number of options for international and local students when it comes to finding a rental property in Germany. The most common types of accommodation to look for are university halls of residence, private rental properties, and fully-furnished apartments.
Halls of residence: Each university has a number of halls of residence, administered by the Studentenwerk (student union). They offer affordable accommodation, but on average only 10% of students secure this type of accommodation. As demand is high, wait times can also be long.
Private rentals: As a student, this is probably the next most affordable and easiest way to rent in Germany. The most common way to rent privately is to be part of a Wohngemeinschaft (WG). This is basically a shared apartment, with a number of students living together and sharing costs.
Furnished apartments: This option is straight forward. Find a company, there are a few, which offers furnished apartments and rent one. It’s simple, in that all costs are bundled together and generally there is not much administration. However, this is most definitely the most expensive option.
Where should you look?
For Studentenwerk, it’s quite simple. All you have to do is check the Studentenwerk website for your university or city. Here are some examples:
There are plenty of portals and social media channels catering for students looking for accommodation and WGs. These include:
And if you do want to go down the expensive route, there are a number of companies catering for students who want a fully-furbished apartment:
Be afraid… Or be prepared.
The rental market in Germany is competitive to say the least. People prefer to rent, making things that little more difficult when searching for somewhere to live. The consequence is that accommodation is on the market shortly, with often more than 100 applications being made for a single apartment.
To deal with this, be prepared. Landlords usually require some documents, such as confirmation of income, guarantees, and references. So always make sure to ask what they would like, and bring it. Also, make sure to start your search for accommodation early. Good luck!
What is mietwise?
mietwise is an early-stage PropTech company. We build digital payment solutions for landlords and tenants, focusing on rental deposits (Mietkautionen) and rental collections. mietwise is backed by leading German investors, including APX (Axel Springer & Porsche) and Blackprint Booster.
