The rental market

Warning! Do not transfer any security deposit for accomodation before you have signed a contract or viewed the apartment/room. If you are unsure whether it is safe to transfer money, you should contact us before proceeding. Please be particularly cautious when asked to transfer money to a foreign country (not Germany).

Another possibility when searching for accommodation is to enter the private rental market. Rental advertisements can be found in the Internet or in the real estate section of daily newspapers such as the "Frankfurter Rundschau" or "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". You can also post your own advertisement on the websites mentioned above, for example, or in local newspapers and on notice boards. Furthermore, you can enlist the help of an agency to find accommodation. You should note, however, that in Germany it is usually the tenant/purchaser who pays the agent's commission.

Choice of Housing - Unfurnished vs. Furnished

Since rented accommodations in Germany usually come without furniture, about 80% of the flats you will find are unfurnished, leaving 20% furnished. The average monthly rent for an unfurnished flat (which may or may not include a kitchen), can be 25-35% cheaper than furnished accommodation. Therefore, if you already have some furniture or if you are planning to stay in Frankfurt for a fairly long time, renting an unfurnished flat is always the more economical option.

As a general rule, furnished flats tend to be on a small scale with just 1 or 2 rooms, whereas larger flats are rarely available complete with furniture. If you are planning to bring your family to Frankfurt and require a furnished flat or apartment, only a small fraction of the accommodations available on the free market are suitable for your needs. For this reason, it is a good idea to start looking for a place to live in Frankfurt as soon as possible, especially since your child's schooling is often dependent on where you live. As such, your housing options may have to be narrowed down to certain districts/suburbs of Frankfurt due to your child's education needs.

As an alternative to renting an entire flat, a single person can also rent an unfurnished or furnished room in a shared apartment (multiple occupation, known as Wohngemeinschaft or WG). In this case, you will have your own room but will share the bathroom and the kitchen with all the other occupants in the apartment. These rooms are usually cheaper than a furnished one-room flat and have the advantage of offering you the companionship of the other tenants from the beginning of your stay.


Below are some real estate agencies that are specialised in rooms/apartments for rent:


City-Residence GmbH
Hansaallee 2, D-60322 Frankfurt/M
Telephone: +49-(0)69-299 05 - 0
Fax: +49-(0)69-299 05 – 353
Internet: www.city-residence.de

HomeCompany Mitwohnzentrale GbR
Bergerstraße 27, D-60316 Frankfurt am Main
Telephone: +49-(0)69-19445
Fax: +49-(0)69-4 90 90 97
Internet: http://frankfurt.homecompany.de
Email: frankfurt@homecompany.de
Office Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-1 p.m., 2 p.m.- 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.

9flats.com
Telephone: +49 (0)30 98 321 67 99
Internet: http://www.9flats.com/de/
E-Mail: support@9flats.com

the-flag.de
Internet: https://the-flag.de/student-apartments/frankfurt/

Apartment swaps:

List of abbreviations for accommodation search
If you want to search for accommodation in Germany privately you will discover that advertisements contain a lot of abbreviations. To help you search more efficiently we have compiled a list of abbreviations.

Contact

Global Office
Goethe Welcome Centre

Campus Westend
Bauleitgebäude
60629 Frankfurt am Main

Researcher Advisor and Guest House Management

Ms. Isabelle de Porras

Campus Westend
Bauleitgebäude
Room 01

E-Mail: Porras(at)em.uni-frankfurt.de
Tel. +49-69-798-17193
Fax +49-69-798-763-17193

Office Hours: Wed.: 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. - or by appointment