1 in 3 of tenants pay over 30% of wage to rent in Germany

One in three tenants in Germany is “overburdened” by rental costs. The German Tenants’ Association (DMB) is calling on the CDU/CSU-SPD government to significantly extend the rent brake.

Rents eating up wages in Germany

55 percent of the German population rents, rather than owns, their home. Of the around 20 million tenant households, 3,2 million pay over 40 percent of their income before tax towards rent, and a further 3,4 million pay between 30 and 40 percent - all of this before even getting to other bills.

Nearly half of all renter households (42 percent) fall into the lowest income third of the overall population (8,3 million), with an average monthly income of 1.417 euros.

That is according to a study conducted by the Institute for Living and Environment (IWU) and commissioned by the German Tenants’ Association (DMB). While the DMB considers a tenant “overburdened” when they pay 30 percent or more of their income towards rent, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) sets the threshold higher at 40 percent or above. 

“The bottom 10 percent of the income distribution are particularly affected; their average housing costs account for 60 percent of their income,”  explained the IWU study, which is based on a 2022 microcensus and updated using Destatis figures from 2024.

Among people with a migrant background and first-generation migrants in Germany, the percentage who rent, rather than own their home, is even higher. While 46 percent of Germany’s population without a recent migration background are renters, 73 percent of first-generation migrants are tenants, according to the Expert Council on Integration and Migration.

DMB says rent brake should apply everywhere

“The federal government needs to do something now to protect tenants from further strain,” DMB President Melanie Weber-Moritz said in a press release.

Specifically, Weber-Moritz called on the CDU/CSU-SPD government to extend the rent brake indefinitely. The rent brake was first introduced by the CDU-led government in 2015, but critics have long argued it has too many loopholes to effectively protect tenants. The current CDU/CSU-SPD government last extended the brake in June 2025 to last until 2029. 

The brake applies to some homes in areas considered to have a “strained housing market”, currently in over 400 of the 11.000 municipalities in Germany. In these areas, landlords cannot charge over the local comparative rent, which is determined by the rent index (Mietpreisindex or Mietspiegel). Weber-Moritz said these rules should apply nationwide.

Finally, the DMB president said the government should punish landlords who illegally charge tenants high rents more severely. Within the first year of operation, a Rent Price Review Office (Mietpreisprüfstelle) set up by the city of Berlin in 2025, found that landlords were charging tenants illegally high rents in 94 percent of 340 cases checked.

In October 2025, the district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg became the first Berlin district to ever fine a landlord for charging a tenant exploitative rent. The landlord, who was charging her tenant 190 percent over the index maximum, was ordered to pay a 26.253,50-euro fine, and the tenant was given the option to sue for a 22.264,08-euro refund for the rent she overpaid.