Buy an apartment building in Frankfurt am Main – quietly instead of publicly

What is the Frankfurt property market like?

Frankfurt shows two movements at the same time in 2025. Total volume rose only slightly, by around 1.4% to around €4.04 billion, even though around 9% more contracts were notarised. Large transactions above €10 million brought in only around €1.2 billion, after €1.5 billion in the previous year. For apartment buildings, both the number of sales and the volume increased: 438 instead of 397 sales, around €849 million instead of €801 million. The average price per building fell slightly from around €2.02 million to around €1.94 million.

€848.7 million divided by 438 buildings gives around €1.94 million per building (own calculation). What the multiple says about a building and what it does not is explained in the guide Purchase price multiple for apartment buildings and in the glossary.

What stands out about Frankfurt: The market has become a market for existing stock. In 2025 only eight newly built owner-occupied houses were sold, a record low according to the report. Almost three out of four owner-occupied houses sold were at least 50 years old. Anyone buying an apartment building in Frankfurt is, as a rule, buying an existing let building.

Which properties are traded off-market in Frankfurt?

In Frankfurt, properties offered without a public listing are mainly those where the circle of potential buyers is limited or where the sale should not become known:

• Apartment buildings from the Gründerzeit and post-war periods with long-standing tenants.
• Mixed-use buildings with restaurants or retail on the ground floor.
• Smaller office buildings that could be suitable for conversion into apartments.
• Villas and town houses.
• Plots with building rights for multi-storey housing.

Describe what you are looking for in the search above, for example „apartment building in Frankfurt up to 3 million euros, six to twelve apartments“. More on the property types: Off-market apartment buildings and Off-market investment buildings.

Where in Frankfurt are apartment buildings sold?

For apartments, the valuation committee distinguishes between the city centre and the rest of the city. The classic stock of rental buildings is located in the districts close to the city centre, such as Nordend, Bornheim, Bockenheim, Sachsenhausen, Gallus and Ostend.

The anonymous profiles on diskret.immo only name the district or an approximate location. As a verified buyer you receive the address after release with the owner’s consent.

Do you own an apartment building in Frankfurt and want to know what buyers would pay for it without offering it publicly? With an anonymous profile you can test demand.

What do owners in Frankfurt need to consider when selling?

The rules on conversion are in flux

In Hesse, municipalities could make the division of rental buildings into owner-occupied apartments subject to approval in two ways: in tenant protection areas (Milieuschutzgebiete) through a state ordinance under § 172 Federal Building Code (BauGB), and in tight housing markets through an ordinance under § 250 BauGB. An amendment motion in the Hessian state parliament of 23 September 2025 records that the state government had announced it would not extend these ordinances. The Hessian approval requirement under § 250 BauGB expired at the end of 31 December 2025; Hesse has not reissued it despite the extension in federal law. In Frankfurt’s tenant protection areas, division remains subject to approval (§ 172(1) sentence 4 BauGB in conjunction with the Umwandlungsgenehmigungs- und Gebietsbestimmungsverordnung, GVBl. 2022 p. 234); this regulation expires at the end of 11 May 2027.

For owners and buyers this means: whether a division in Frankfurt currently requires approval should be checked up to date before every purchase contract. Otherwise a multiple that only works with division is a risk.

Tenant protection (Milieuschutz) remains an issue

Irrespective of conversion, the city can make structural alterations and modernisations in tenant protection areas subject to approval. Whether your building is located in such an area can be answered by the City Planning Office (Stadtplanungsamt).

Discretion protects the price

In a market with a few hundred sales a year, word of a public offer spreads quickly. If a building sits on portals for a long time, buyers ask why. An anonymous profile with a price and floor-area range avoids this. The page Sell an apartment building in Frankfurt discreetly explains this step by step.

Not legal or tax advice. The legal position on conversion in Hesse had not been conclusively reviewed at the editorial deadline on 26.10.2026. Have your case reviewed by a lawyer or notary (Notar).

How do you buy in Frankfurt via diskret.immo?

You register and save a search profile. Matching anonymous profiles show the district, property type, price and floor-area range. You receive the exposé as a verified buyer after a confidentiality undertaking and with the owner’s consent or on the instruction of their estate agent, and the address after a conversation about your financing and a further release. As of 1 November 2026: fewer than three released anonymous profiles in Frankfurt and 7 active purchase requests that include Frankfurt.

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