Renting out an apartment in Erlangen: demand, Mietpreisbremse and managing from afar

Why Erlangen works differently from Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a broad market with many groups of renters. Erlangen is a narrow market with very few, very large ones — which makes it more predictable for investors, and at the same time more sensitive.

Three employers shape the city: Siemens with its campus in the south — according to the company, Erlangen is the largest Siemens location worldwide —, the university hospital (Universitätsklinikum) and the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) with around 40,000 students across its Erlangen and Nuremberg sites. Around them sits a ring of suppliers and medical technology firms. The result is demand that barely moves with the economy but is highly structured: employees relocating from other sites, staff on fixed-term assignments, students, doctoral researchers and hospital staff working shifts.

All of these groups want the same thing — small to mid-sized flats, well connected, ready to move into. They almost never want a terraced house.

What that means for choosing a property

Size beats location. A 55 m² two-room flat in an average location lets faster and more reliably in Erlangen than a 120 m² flat in the best location. Demand from tenants who can pay for large flats is thin, because families with that kind of budget tend to buy or move out to the surrounding area.

Connections are concrete, not abstract. What matters is how easily you reach the campus, the hospital and the city centre — by bike and bus, not by car. A parking space is a bonus, not a substitute.

Condition before fittings. With short tenancies and frequent changeovers, luxury fittings do not pay for themselves. What does pay: technology that works, unremarkable bathrooms, hard-wearing floors and a layout without walk-through rooms.

The price side: capped on new leases

Erlangen falls under the Bavarian Tenant Protection Ordinance (Mieterschutzverordnung), which in its revised form has applied to 285 Bavarian towns and municipalities since 1 January 2026, for now until the end of 2029. On a new lease, the rent may exceed the local reference rent by no more than ten per cent (§ 556d BGB) — this is the Mietpreisbremse, or rent brake. In existing leases, the lowered cap (Kappungsgrenze) of 15 per cent over three years applies (§ 558(3) BGB).

There are exceptions: flats first used and let after 1 October 2014, the first letting after comprehensive modernisation, and a previous rent that was already higher. But you can only rely on an exception if you tell the tenant about it, unprompted, before the lease is signed (§ 556g(1a) BGB) — otherwise the rent brake applies anyway.

A third rule from the same ordinance matters to buyers: if a let flat was converted into a condominium unit only after the tenant moved in, a termination for personal use (Eigenbedarf) is ruled out in Erlangen for ten years from the first sale (§ 577a BGB). If you are buying with a view to moving in later, check this before the notary appointment.

The local reference rent comes from the City of Erlangen’s qualified rent index (Mietspiegel), which the city publishes online free of charge. It is the first source to check before you set a rent or justify an increase.

For your calculations, this means returns do not come from a high starting rent on a new lease. They come from three other levers.

Avoiding vacancy. Every month of vacancy costs one twelfth of the annual rent plus the ongoing Hausgeld. Marketing the flat as soon as notice arrives, rather than after the tenant moves out, usually saves more than any permitted rent increase brings in.

Consistent increases in existing leases. The cap works in three-year periods; whatever you do not use in one period cannot be made up later. Adjusting properly every three years clearly beats one big jump after ten years — tracking those deadlines is part of rental management.

Passing on operating costs properly. Anything not billed correctly stays with the owner. The management fee and contributions to the maintenance reserve cannot be passed on anyway (§ 1(2) BetrKV) — which makes it all the more important that the recoverable share arrives in full.

What has to be arranged from afar

A large part of Erlangen’s investment stock belongs to owners who do not live locally. That works once these points are settled — usually through local unit management (Sondereigentumsverwaltung):

The last point is regularly underestimated. In buildings with a high share of investors, often only a few owners turn up to the meeting — and those present decide on refurbishments, special levies (Sonderumlagen) and the budget that everyone pays for. Since the WEG reform there is no longer a quorum; a small group in the room can pass binding resolutions. If you do not attend and send no one, you leave the decision to others.

Realistic expectations

Erlangen delivers security, not high returns. Purchase prices have outpaced rents, rent on new leases is capped, and even with Bavaria’s comparatively low property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) of 3.5 per cent, notary, land registry and possibly agent fees come on top. What the market does offer is a very low risk of default: short vacancies, solvent tenants and stable demand across the economic cycle.

If you accept that as your investment goal, you will find good properties in Erlangen. If you are after double-digit returns, look elsewhere.

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Ravenica provides unit management (Sondereigentumsverwaltung) in Erlangen, Nuremberg and Fürth — including for single flats and for owners who do not live in the region.