Buy an apartment building off market

Market figures for Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Potsdam are on the regional pages.

Why are apartment buildings often sold off market?

Apartment buildings are often sold quietly because a public listing unsettles the tenants. Anyone who reads that their building is for sale fears a rent increase or a notice for owner’s own use – and may give notice themselves. For the seller, that means vacancy at the worst possible moment.

Other typical reasons:

• Communities of heirs do not want relatives, neighbours or tenants to learn about negotiations.
• Long-term holders sell individual buildings from their portfolio without drawing the market’s attention to their strategy.
• Price protection: a building that stays online for months is quickly seen as „hard to sell“.
• Quiet market test: owners use the number of matching search profiles to check whether a sale at their target price is realistic.

For you as a buyer, this means part of the supply can only be reached through networks and platforms such as diskret.immo. No official statistic measures how large that part is.

What does the anonymous profile of an apartment building contain?

The anonymous profile shows the key data you need for an initial assessment, but nothing that would identify the building. It corresponds to stage A of the release.

Our team hands over documents in person after release; every access to the anonymous profile, exposé and address is logged under a pseudonym. How it works describes the process in detail.

How do you find the right apartment building in your own words?

You enter your search as a sentence, for example „Apartment building in Leipzig up to €2 million with at least 5% yield“. The search turns this into criteria according to fixed rules, which you can correct, and shows each anonymous profile with a match score from 0 to 100 and a short explanation.

For apartment buildings, these details are worth giving:

• Region: city, district or surrounding area – the narrower, the more precise the match.
• Price up to: your budget including some leeway, not your ideal price.
• Units: for example „6 to 12 apartments“.
• Yield from: gross yield in per cent, e.g. „from 5%“.
• Year of construction and keywords: „period building (Altbau)“, „lift“, „energy-efficiently refurbished“, „no commercial units“.

Save the search as a search profile; you will receive an email when new matching anonymous profiles appear. Owners see how many profiles match their property – only from three upwards and only as a number. This makes your demand visible without revealing you. More about the search on the page Off-market property.

Which key figures should you check before the exposé?

Check the purchase price multiple first: purchase price divided by the annual net rent excluding service charges. It shows how many years‘ rent you are paying. The gross yield is its reciprocal (100 ÷ multiple).

For orientation, official figures from one region: the Higher Committee of Valuation Experts in Brandenburg (Oberer Gutachterausschuss Brandenburg) determined an average gross rent multiplier (Rohertragsfaktor) of 20.7 for apartment buildings in the Berlin commuter belt (excluding Potsdam) (range 13.6 to 37.6; 75 sales 2023–2025). In the wider metropolitan region it was 14.9, and in the independent cities excluding Potsdam 17.1. For other regions, the relevant local property market report (Grundstücksmarktbericht) applies.

The guide Purchase price multiple for apartment buildings explains the calculation, an example and the limits of the figure. You can calculate the gross and net yield of an offer directly with the calculator under Calculate rental yield.

Which documents belong in the review?

For a sound decision you need more than key figures. You should receive these documents before the purchase:

• Land register extract (Grundbuchauszug, current) and cadastral map
• Tenant schedule with area, rent, start of lease, deposit and arrears per unit
• Leases, addenda, rent increases of recent years
• Service charge statements for the last two to three years
• Energy performance certificate
• Evidence of modernisations, maintenance contracts (e.g. heating, lift)
• Information from the register of building encumbrances (Baulastenauskunft), for period buildings a listed-building notice where applicable

If something is missing, ask for it specifically. A seller who sells off market has the same obligations as any other. The glossary explains the steps of the review under Due diligence.

Note: This page gives a general overview and does not replace legal, tax or financing advice.

What does it cost to buy an apartment building via diskret.immo?

Using diskret.immo is free for buyers: the buyer account, anonymous profiles and search profile cost nothing. For apartment buildings, the buyer’s commission is agreed per property; it is stated in every anonymous profile, including properties from partner agents.

In Germany, the statutory split of the estate agent’s commission does not apply to apartment buildings; it only covers apartments and single-family houses bought by a consumer (§§ 656a–656d German Civil Code, BGB). The commission can therefore be freely agreed; whether a buyer’s commission is payable, and how much, is already stated in the anonymous profile. In addition, there is real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) as well as notary (Notar) and land registry fees.

You own an apartment building yourself and are thinking about selling? Read how to sell an apartment building discreetly without unsettling the tenants.