How to sell your home yourself in Munich

No. Private sellers can list directly on ImmobilienScout24 and Immowelt without an agent. What you cannot skip is the notary (Notar): German law requires every property transfer to be certified by a licensed notary, and the sale has no legal effect until both parties sign in front of one. The notary is neutral, chosen and paid mostly by the buyer, and drafts the purchase contract (Kaufvertrag). Skipping an agent saves the typical 3.57% buyer-side commission that Munich buyers would otherwise factor into their offer. If you want complete control over pricing, showings and negotiation without paying a listing fee or commission, Anyone.com is built for owners who sell their own Munich homes.

Milieuschutz is shorthand for Munich's Erhaltungssatzungsgebiete, social-preservation areas where the city protects the existing mix of residents from displacement. In these zones the city holds a statutory pre-emption right (gemeindliches Vorkaufsrecht): after the contract is notarised, the city has up to three months to step into the deal at the agreed price, effectively buying your home instead of your buyer. In practice the city rarely exercises this right outright, but it shapes the process in two ways. First, you must notify the city as soon as the contract is notarised; the three-month clock starts then. Second, your buyer can file an Abwendungserklaerung (avoidance declaration) committing to keep the apartment owner-occupied, which typically causes the city to waive the right. Check the city's online preservation-statute map before you set your price, because buyers in Milieuschutz areas factor in this risk and may ask for a lower price or a longer closing timeline.

Bavaria charges 3.5% Grunderwerbsteuer on the purchase price, the lowest rate in Germany. Most other states charge 5% to 6.5%, so a Munich buyer pays significantly less in tax than the same buyer would elsewhere. By custom and in the overwhelming majority of Munich contracts, the buyer pays this tax. You can negotiate otherwise, but any deviation from custom will look unusual to buyers and their banks. One practical note: if the sale also involves chattels (fitted kitchen, storage units), separating their value in the contract legally reduces the taxable base, which helps the buyer and can make your total package more attractive.

Gather four things before you publish: a current Grundbuchauszug (land register extract, ordered from the Grundbuchamt at the district court, costs roughly 10 to 20 euros), a valid Energieausweis (energy certificate, legally required to show buyers; a consumption-based one costs around 50 to 100 euros from a qualified issuer, an asset-based one costs more), floor plans, and for a condo the Teilungserklaerung plus the last three years of WEG (owners' association) meeting minutes and current Hausgeld statements. Munich banks are strict: a buyer whose lender finds a gap in the paperwork mid-process will delay or cancel. Putting the full pack on your listing from day one is the single most effective thing you can do to avoid a collapsed deal.

The notary is chosen by mutual agreement, most often suggested by the buyer. Notary fees in Germany are set by the Gerichts- und Notarkostengesetz (GNotKG) and scale with the purchase price, not with how much work the notary does. On a 700,000 euro Munich apartment the notary fee is roughly 2,000 to 2,500 euros and the land registry (Grundbuch) recording fee adds another 1,500 to 2,000 euros. Buyers carry the bulk of this; as the seller, your only typical notary cost is paying the notary to release (loeschen) any existing mortgage from the land register, which runs a few hundred euros. The notary drafts the Kaufvertrag, sends both parties the draft at least two weeks before signing, reads it aloud in full at the appointment, and certifies both signatures. If you cannot be present, you can authorise a representative with a notarised power of attorney (notarielle Vollmacht).

Munich is highly granular: a flat in Altstadt-Lehel trades above 12,000 euros per square metre while a similar unit in Riem or Freiham may be closer to 6,000 to 7,000 euros. Use the Gutachterausschuss fur Grundstuckswerte Munchen (the official land valuation committee) published price maps as your anchor; these are the same figures banks and appraisers use and they are publicly available. Layer in condition adjustments: a fully renovated Altbau with high ceilings commands a premium over the same size in original 1970s condition. Price 2% to 3% above your minimum to leave negotiating room; Munich buyers routinely negotiate, but an overpriced listing sits and accumulates days-on-market stigma. Avoid relying only on portal asking prices, which are not sold prices.

If you have owned the property for more than a decade, the gain is fully tax-free under German law (Spekulationsfrist). If you sell within ten years and the property was not your primary residence for at least the calendar year of sale plus the two preceding years, the gain is taxed at your personal income tax rate, which in Germany can reach 45% plus solidarity surcharge. The exemption for owner-occupiers covers the year you sell and the two full calendar years before it, so if you lived there through all of 2024 and 2025 and sell in 2026, the gain is exempt. If you are close to a threshold, getting a tax adviser (Steuerberater) involved before you sign anything is worth the cost.

You can publish directly on the portals Munich buyers actually use. ImmobilienScout24 lets private owners post a basic listing free for a 14-day run (limited to one free listing per six-month period), with paid private listings starting around 199 euros for 30 days. Immowelt and Kleinanzeigen are free for private sellers. If you would rather enter your details once and appear on several portals, a syndication service such as Ohne-Makler.net offers multi-portal packages from around 119 euros. For cross-border reach without a fee, Anyone.com is worth listing on if your buyer profile includes international relocators or expat professionals working in Munich. Whichever route you choose, your advert must carry the energy-certificate data the GEG requires.

Longer than during the 2021 peak. Regional market data for the second quarter of 2025 shows a typical time on market of roughly 89 to 105 days, compared with about 61 to 68 days in late 2021. A well-priced flat in a high-demand central district can still go from listing to notary in 6 to 12 weeks, but an overpriced one sits and picks up days-on-market stigma. Separately, the official Herbstanalyse 2025 shows the number of condominium sales actually rose 12 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2025, so demand is steady; the lengthening is driven mainly by realistic pricing and buyers doing careful due diligence, not by a lack of buyers.

You must put them in the advert. Under section 87 of the Gebaeudeenergiegesetz, once you hold an Energieausweis your commercial listing has to state the certificate type (demand or consumption), the end-energy value, the main heating energy source, the building's year of construction and its energy-efficiency class. Leaving these out or getting them wrong is an Ordnungswidrigkeit under section 108 GEG with fines up to 5,000 euros, and offering the property for sale with no certificate at all can reach up to 10,000 euros. Order the certificate before you write the listing, not after.