Apartments to rent directly from the owner in Nordrhein-Westfalen

Location counts: Rental prices diverge in North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state in the Federal Republic with over 17 million inhabitants, is famous for its diversity and the independence of its regions. "It's terrible, but it works" - under this title, Rhineland cabaret artist Jürgen Becker and Westphalian Rüdiger Hoffmann went on tour together in the 1990s. In fact, however, even in the hyphenated state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a sense of togetherness has been developing for some years that leaves a lot of room for regional differences. Living in North Rhine-Westphalia can mean many things: From a single apartment in the trendy Ehrenfeld district of Cologne to a single-family home in relatively sparsely populated East Westphalia. There are also major differences between the rural regions of North Rhine-Westphalia - including the Sauerland, Münsterland and Eifel - with the range extending from the Sauerland, which is dominated by medium-sized businesses and is relatively strong in economic terms, to the structurally weaker Eifel. A comparison between the state's numerous major cities brings North Rhine-Westphalia's diversity to light all the more: While the large metropolises of the Rhineland Cologne and Düsseldorf in particular, as well as the university cities of Münster, Aachen and Bonn, are experiencing a boom, cities in the Ruhr region such as Duisburg and Hagen are facing the problem of ongoing industrial structural change and population decline. Overall, North Rhine-Westphalia thus offers a relatively relaxed housing market and interesting jobs in large, high-revenue companies such as E.ON, ALDI Nord and ALDI Süd, Bayer AG and Deutsche Telekom.

Industrial culture at reasonable prices: The example of Hagen

Persistently strong demand there - an oversupply of housing here: These trends must have an impact on the housing market. In Hagen, for example, the vast majority of rental apartments are offered without commission. According to the city's official rent index, average rents here range from €4.15 to €7.80 per square meter, depending on year of construction and amenities - well below NRW's top performer, Düsseldorf. Anyone wishing to rent out an apartment in Hagen, Essen, Dortmund or Duisburg would therefore be well advised to start looking for a new tenant without a broker - because commission-free offers are increasingly being sought.

At the upper end of the rental price range: Cologne, Düsseldorf & Co.

The situation in Cologne is different. According to the real estate portal immowelt.de, average rents here are just under 10 euros per square meter. In the popular districts close to the old city center, such as Nippes, rents are even as high as 11 euros on average - and rising. For it is precisely in the high-priced regions of North Rhine-Westphalia such as Cologne, Düsseldorf, Münster or Aachen, according to the findings of the current housing market report of NRW.Bank, that rising demand is meeting with a shortage of supply. The result: rents are rising rapidly. It is difficult, but not impossible, to try to find a rental apartment here without a broker's commission, because even here the one or other top apartment is brokered without a commission.Thefollowing also applies to these locations: The more flexible the apartment seekers are with regard to location and transport links to their future home, the greater the chances of finding a commission-free rented apartment in the major Rhine metropolises of Cologne and Düsseldorf.

Current apartment prices (February 2014)

Source: immowelt.de