Grundsteuer

As a homeowner, you must pay a quarterly “Grundsteuer” (land tax), which is dependent on the value dictated by your local “Finanzamt” (tax office). This property tax is generally no more than 150 € per quarter, based on 41 million German households. 

The tax rates that are quoted as a percentage that you may see in news items sound scary when you apply them to the prices of current houses. In practice, however, the rates are applied to extraordinarily low property values – think two-hundred-year-old values. This is why the actual tax is relatively low. 

Knowing the assessment rate and details of property tax reform is key. Each federal state determines the property tax assessment based on the property's location, and rules often vary whether you’re managing real estate in Baden-Württemberg or Brandenburg North Rhine-Westphalia Saarland Schleswig-Holstein.