My daughter and her family live in Munich. They intend to stay, even though some friends have moved to Canada, the United States or the Gulf. They want their child to grow up with German language and traditions. I understand that choice after visiting them twice. I also wonder how a professional arriving in Munich today would make the same decision without an established home.

On 15 October 2026, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy published figures that sharpen the question. Its GREIX index found advertised apartment rents in 37 German cities and regions were 3.7% higher than a year earlier. Munich’s average asking cold rent reached €23.70 per square metre. That is not what every tenant pays. It is the price facing people searching the market now.

What an 80-square-metre apartment costs

At those city averages, an 80-square-metre flat would have an indicative monthly cold rent of €1,896 in Munich, €1,432 in Frankfurt, €1,320 in Hamburg, €1,264 in Berlin and €832 in Leipzig. These are calculations from advertised prices, not quotations for available apartments. Cold rent, or Kaltmiete, excludes heating and other service charges.

The Munich-Leipzig difference is €1,064 a month, or €12,768 a year. A worker cannot necessarily take a Munich salary to Leipzig. Hospitals, factories and research employers need staff in particular places. Remote work is no answer for a nurse who must report to a ward.

The GREIX report also found a 1.2% quarterly rise in nominal asking rents and a much smaller 0.7% year-on-year rise after adjusting for inflation. The index measures advertisements, not the rents paid under existing leases. An established Munich household may therefore face a very different bill from someone who arrived last week.

The salary calculation that recruiters should show

Imagine a professional offered €60,000 gross a year in Munich. That is €5,000 a month before tax and social insurance. The illustrative €1,896 cold rent would absorb nearly 38% of gross monthly earnings. Heating and other charges increase the housing bill; tax and insurance reduce take-home pay. The share of net income devoted to housing would therefore be higher, although its exact size depends on the household.

The €60,000 figure is an example, not a claim about average earnings. It shows why an offer letter alone cannot tell a family what life in Germany will cost. A couple with two incomes may manage comfortably. A single-income household supporting children may reach a different conclusion.

Before accepting a position, applicants should compare the expected net salary with the warm rent, or Warmmiete, of apartments they can realistically find near work. They should also allow for deposits, moving expenses and temporary accommodation. A cheap apartment far from work can carry a cost in commuting time.

Germany needs particular workers, not everyone

The country’s labour shortage is real but selective. Germany’s Federal Employment Agency identified shortages in 157 occupational categories in 2025, down from 163 a year earlier. Healthcare and skilled trades remained under pressure. The same agency warned that other occupations had more applicants than vacancies. Germany’s economic weakness has made recruitment harder in some fields.

For a Pakistani or Indian professional, the first question remains whether an employer needs their specific qualification and language skills. I explored that problem earlier in my guide to applying for German jobs from Pakistan. Finding employment and finding housing are separate hurdles, and either can derail a move.

Why building more expensive flats is not enough

The Kiel Institute reported that asking rents for existing apartments increased faster during the quarter than those for newly built units. It also found that new-build advertisements in Germany’s eight largest cities stayed online around fourteen days longer than existing-stock advertisements, averaged over the previous four quarters. Researchers suggested higher new-build rents narrowed the pool of possible tenants.

That finding deserves attention. A new apartment advertised at €2,000 a month does not solve the immediate problem of a household that can spend only €1,200. More construction can improve supply over time, but location and affordability determine who benefits.

Housing access is not only a matter of price. In my earlier investigation of discrimination in Germany’s rental market, I examined evidence that applicants with certain foreign-sounding names received fewer viewing invitations. The present GREIX figures cannot measure discrimination; they tell us what landlords ask, not whom they accept.

Employers have already noticed the problem

Research discussed in my previous article on skilled workers and homeownership found that some German companies offer accommodation or assistance with housing searches. The German Economic Institute reported that fewer than one in ten surveyed firms directly provided housing, while more than one fifth offered administrative or financial support with the search. These survey findings should not be read as a guarantee that a new employee will receive such help.

Recruiters could make one useful change immediately: present realistic local rental examples alongside salary offers. An applicant comparing Munich with Leipzig needs figures for the city where the job exists, not a national cost-of-living average. Employer support can ease arrival, but tying accommodation too closely to a job may leave workers vulnerable if they change employers.

What my family sees in Munich

My daughter has invited us to Germany twice and paid our travel expenses. She especially wants her mother to spend time with the family. During those visits, I have seen why Munich means more to them than a calculation on a payslip. Their child’s daily life is rooted there, and they want to preserve it.

I cannot use one family’s decision to claim that foreign workers generally prefer Germany despite its costs. Others may leave, or choose a cheaper German city, for reasons the rent index cannot reveal. There is no evidence in the October GREIX release that rising rents have caused a measured exodus of skilled migrants.

What the figures establish is narrower and more useful. A newly recruited professional in Munich faces a markedly different housing market from a worker in Leipzig. Germany’s work-permit reforms cannot erase that difference. The next practical test of a successful recruitment policy may come when the employee starts looking for an apartment.

Sources: Kiel Institute, GREIX Q3 2026 (15 October); GREIX methodology and rental data. Further practical guidance appears in the Living in Germany hub.