Investment Properties in Osnabrück: Figures, Locations, and an Honest Calculation

Moe Afonso · 2026-10-13

Osnabrück rarely appears on the well-known lists of investment cities. Anyone who checks the city anyway will find figures that are interesting for landlords. Only a good 3% of apartments were vacant in the 2022 census, and a used condominium cost an average of €2,440 per square meter in 2025.

There is also the other side. Rent control applies in Osnabrück, new construction activity is weak, and the VW plant on the outskirts is still looking for a future. Anyone who only looks at the vacancy rate overlooks these points.

We have therefore compiled the official data: census, city statistics, rental mirror, and the purchase prices of the expert committees. Finally, we calculate an existing apartment and a new apartment before and after taxes.

01Osnabrück in Figures

The table bundles the most important data. Where two official bodies count differently, it is noted.

Good two-thirds of the apartments in Osnabrück are rented. The city is therefore a tenant market, even if the homeownership share is higher than in major cities like Leipzig or Hanover.

02Population and Demand

There are two population figures for Osnabrück, and both are correct. The official update based on the 2022 census comes to 166,257 people at the end of 2025. The city's registration register counts around 171,600 in mid-2025. The difference arises because the census excludes inactive records, while the registration register does not.

More important than the exact number is the direction. Between the two censuses of 2011 and 2022, the city grew by more than 11,000 residents. This is driven solely by migration, as more people have died in Osnabrück each year than were born since 2022. In 2024, the migration gain was 568 people; in the first half of 2025, it was balanced.

Regarding the future, two official calculations contradict each other. The city's statistics office expects 176,857 residents in its base scenario by 2040, about 3% more than in 2022, and even in the most unfavorable case, a constant number. The State Statistical Office comes to a different result in its forecast from February 2026. In the middle variant, Osnabrück loses around 7% by 2040 and around 9% by 2045 because fewer people move in and more die than are born.

The spatial planning forecast of the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development lies in between and expects a constant population until 2045. No one knows today which calculation will be right. The city calculates with its registration register and knows the planned new construction areas; the state calculates uniformly for all districts. For your calculation, this means being cautious and not counting on population growth. In both calculations, the number of older people is growing.

For landlords, the number of households counts. According to Census 2022, only one person lived in every second household. Students, career starters, and older singles demand small apartments, and this segment has been growing for years according to the city.

03Economy and Labor Market

Osnabrück is a place of work for a large surrounding area. At the end of 2024, 101,934 employees subject to social security had their workplace in the city, with around 166,000 residents. We could not find an official commuter balance.

The region's largest employers come from the healthcare sector. The Niels Stensen Clinics employ around 7,000 people according to the Chamber of Commerce, and the Osnabrück Clinic a good 3,500. Added to this are the university and college, administration, and a broad middle class from mechanical engineering, logistics, and trade.

An open risk is the Volkswagen plant with around 2,300 employees. Production of the T-Roc Cabrio is scheduled to end in mid-2027. In March 2026, Rheinmetall canceled a takeover; VW wants to decide on the future by the end of 2026. For the rental market of a city with 100,000 jobs, this is not a disaster, but it is a factor for individual districts in the west.

The city's unemployment rate was 7.9% at the end of 2024. For the agency district consisting of the city and district, the employment agency reported a rate of 5.3% in September 2026, slightly above the previous year. In the manufacturing sector, around 1,150 jobs were lost in the region within a year, while jobs were added in the social and healthcare sectors.

04Rents, Purchase Prices, and Rental Yield

In Osnabrück, existing and asking rents are far apart. The 2022 census determined an average net cold rent of €7.30/m². An advertisement analysis by the Federal Ministry of Building came to €10.01/m² for new and re-rentals, according to the city. Portals like miet-check.de even show €11.77/m² for the last twelve months.

For your calculation, the rental mirror counts above all. Osnabrück has a simple rental mirror, evaluated from rents from the years 2019 to 2024. An apartment with 41 to 60 m² from the 1970s is at €7.89/m², one from the years 2010 to 2014 at €10.53/m². A qualified rental mirror is scheduled to appear in early 2027.

For purchase prices, we rely on the expert committees in Lower Saxony. They evaluate all notarized sales contracts. In the 2025 reporting year, a used condominium in the city of Osnabrück cost an average of €2,440/m². In the district, it was €1,960/m², in Hanover €2,950/m².

The purchase price factor says how many annual rents the purchase price costs. With rental mirror rent, it is around 26. You only achieve the gross rental yield of almost 5% with asking rent for new rentals, and only if the rent control allows this rent. For an apartment from the 1970s, it allows a maximum of around €8.70/m², i.e., 10% above the comparative rent.