Munich has long been a city of high quality of life, and high expense to match. This is further supported by a forecast published on Wednesday by the website Immowelt. According to them, Munich is expected to remain Germany's most expensive city in 2021. Average rents are expected to be at around 16.10 euros cold (not including heating, electricity and other utility bills) per square metre.

But the increase falls far behind previous years and is actually less than many other major cities.  On top of this, Munich has saw a wane in its popularity over the last year, with more people leaving the city than moving to it, compared to previous years.

"the price curve is flattening noticeably", the study claims. "After the enormous increases of the past years, asking rents for existing apartments are expected to go up by only one per cent." Nevertheless, Munich is still in first place by a wide margin, followed by Frankfurt am Main in second place, where rents of 12.20 euros are expected after an increase of three per cent. The price growth in Stuttgart is rapidly gaining momentum. There, Immowelt expects an increase of a massive six per cent - and rents of 12.10 euros.

In other cities, too - at least according to the forecast - prices are now rising much faster than in Munich, with increases of four per cent expected in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Nuremberg. In Leipzig it is five per cent - but with a price per square metre of just 6.80 euros.

All of this follows in a turbulent year for the housing and rental market, coming on the back of many major protests around Germany at the greed of property owners who rent at exorbitant prices.

Image by Michael Siebert