Further to my tread earlier concerning buying property in Germany, I visited Berlin in early September for a week. It's taken me a month or so to get round to documenting thoughts. Firstly I found my trip to Berlin to be an interesting and enjoyable experience. I visited the city to assess a number of areas with regards to what would be the areas to buy in. Two of the areas that I believe would be good areas to purchase in are Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain. These are two central areas previously in the East Berlin. The areas seem to be changing by the minute with much renovation of buildings on. The main problem with these areas is the yields that are achievable. These I was told are along the lines of 3-4% net. I was also told by agents that the best way to buy would be with a sitting tenant. Mainly because tenanted flats are cheaper to buy. Also this avoids the costs of getting a tenant once the purchase has been made. If the tenant does vacate then apparently the property goes up in valuable by around 20%. The other areas I was looking at was Wilmersdorf / Charlottenburg. Here yields of around 5-6% net are achievable. However I believe capital growth here may be more limited, due to being further out of town, less new developments, restaurants, cafes etc. The main disadvantage I find with buying in Germany as I see it is the costs of buying which seem to be around 12% plus vat. Included in this figure are estate agents fees of around 6%. This does sound very expensive. Does anyone know if there is any way around paying this fee? All in all I think that from what I've seen, I think I will buy Berlin. Hopefully with the fact that prices have not moved for 10 years will mean that when they do move that they will move quickly. I think some patience may be required, but with a reasonable yield this should be a acceptable wait. I would also be interested in buying in other parts of Germany. Does anyone know the cities where I could achieve the best yields / low risk investment.

Snail, (most of) Charlottenburg is a top area, very hard to get 5% net yields... but capital growth is always best in the sought-after locations, so Charlottenburg is a very good bet. Reading your post... I'm not sure how you could have missed all the countless restaurants, bars, cafes, hotels, shops, malls, top designer stores etc Charlottenburg is plastered with? It's got by far more than Friedrichshain etc. Yields in Friedrichshain are higher, and prices lower. I bought in Friedrichshain, but if I could get even a slightly similar deal in Charlottenburg, I'd go to the notary immediately. The cost is high but not necessarily higher than in places like Spain, France, etc... in fact it's quite low except agent's fees. Most European countries (and US too) have much higher agent's fees than UK. The difference is that in Berlin fees are paid by the buyer in its entirety, while in most countries it's paid by the seller (or shared). Even in Germany this varies state by state and sometimes even city by city. Berlin is one of the few areas where agents are paid wholly by the buyer. Which however also means that you won't pay agent's fees when you come to sell. Btw, fees are negotiable, and it's quite common for Germans to negotiate the 6%(+VAT) fee. Don't expect a huge reduction though, you may be able to get 5% instead of 6. (I'm not sure it will work with lower priced purchases though. It's quite common for apt block purchases...)

Thanks for your reply Yes I did stay near Charlottenburg and did do my fair share of standing outside shops (waiting for 'er indoors) when I was there. I did not notice any particular bars and cafes that stood out and got the impression that prices in Charlottenburg were already very high. I did like Charlottenburg but was advised by agents that areas such as Friedrichain and Prenslauer Berg was where all the capital growth was taking place. I did meet one agent who advised me to buy in Wilmersdorf, near Charlottenburg due to high yields. I'm going out in 2 weeks time for 4 days so I'll check out both areas then.