Real Estate Investment in Siegen: Figures, Locations and an Honest Calculation

Moe Afonso · 2026-10-13

A condominium for €120,000, rented, in a university city. You can find such offers in Siegen, and they sound like a calculation that works out. The price per square meter is less than half of what apartments cost in Cologne or Düsseldorf.

However, a low price is not yet an argument. The decisive factor is who will rent an apartment in Siegen in ten years and at what rent. Siegen has a university, lots of industry, and clinics. At the same time, according to state statistics, the region will lose inhabitants in the coming decades.

We have compiled the official figures and calculate an apartment at the end, including the monthly additional payment.

01Siegen in Figures

All values we use for classification, with source and status.

02Population and Demand

At the end of 2025, Siegen officially had 102,450 inhabitants, compared to 102,685 a year earlier. At the end of 2014, there were 100,325. The two figures are based on different censuses and are therefore only roughly comparable. What is clear is that the city has not shrunk in the last ten years. Growth has been mainly in the number of inhabitants without a German passport, from around 10,000 to a good 18,000.

For the future, IT.NRW expects fewer people. In the model calculation for the municipalities, Siegen drops from 102,399 inhabitants at the end of 2024 to 96,190 in 2050, a minus of 6.1%. For the entire Siegen-Wittgenstein district, the state even expects 8.7% less. The city is thus holding up better than its surrounding area but is still losing people.

For landlords, what counts besides the population size is how people live. In the 2022 census, 47.3% of Siegen households were people living alone; in 2011, it was 41.4%. And only 41.2% of occupied apartments were occupied by their owners themselves, the rest predominantly by tenants. Small apartments are therefore in demand.

The market is currently tight. Whether it remains so depends on how quickly the population actually shrinks and how much new construction there is. Little is currently being built: only 12 new condominiums were sold in Siegen in 2025, compared to 47 in 2019.

03Economy and Labor Market

Siegen is the center of the Siegerland and an industrial location. Metal processing, plant and mechanical engineering, and the roll and steel industry are characteristic. In addition, there are large employers in the health sector such as the Diakonie in South Westphalia with the Diakonie Klinikum Jung-Stilling, the university, and the administration of the city and district.

On June 30, 2025, 52,290 employees subject to social security contributions worked in Siegen. 29,307 of them commuted from outside, while only 19,374 Siegen residents worked outside. On balance, around 9,900 more people come to work in the city every day than travel out. For landlords, this is a potential tenant base, as those who commute daily sometimes move closer to their workplace.

The unemployment rate in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district was 6.2% in September 2026, compared to 6.1% a year earlier. This is lower than in many Ruhr area cities. The employment agency does not publish a separate rate for the city of Siegen in its report.

The University of Siegen managed a turnaround in 2025: for the 2025/26 winter semester, 2,515 students newly enrolled, 11.4% more than the previous year. In total, the university expected about 14,000 students. With the "Siegen. Wissen verbindet" (Siegen. Knowledge connects) project, it is moving parts of its operation to the city center. According to the status from June 2026, this is taking longer than planned and will be smaller, as less space is needed.

04Rents, Purchase Prices and Rental Yield

There are three rent figures for Siegen, and they tell a similar story. In the 2022 census, the average net cold rent for all rental apartments was €6.60/m². Anyone who bought a rented condominium in 2025 took over an average of €8.20/m², according to the expert committee. And the rent index 2026 for the former Siegen district names €6.98 to €7.72/m² for a 60 m² apartment from the years 1977 to 1994 with medium equipment.

Important: The Siegen rent index is a simple rent index, published by the tenants' association and the house and property owners' associations. It is explicitly not qualified. In a dispute over a rent increase, it therefore has less weight than, for example, the rent index of a large city.

With purchase prices, the situation is clearer. In 2025, 249 existing condominiums were sold, more than in ten years. The average price fell slightly from €2,000 to €1,940/m²; an apartment cost an average of €128,600. New build apartments were €4,230/m², with only 12 sales.

From purchase price and rent, the purchase price factor can be calculated, i.e., how many annual net cold rents the purchase price costs. The reciprocal is the gross rental yield. We have calculated both for an average existing apartment (€1,940/m²) with three rent assumptions.

Compared to major cities, these are decent values. However, the reason lies in the low prices, not in high rents. And low prices have a cause in Siegen: a region that is losing inhabitants in the long term. You can check your own figure with the Rental Yield Calculator.

05Districts at a Glance

Siegen consists of many districts along the valleys of the Sieg, Weiß, and Ferndorf. The expert committee does not publish prices per district. However, the rent index assigns a location factor to each district, by which the comparison rent is multiplied. This is the only proven figure per district.

The factors with "up to" apply only in particularly good locations and with appropriate equipment, but at least 1.00. For an investment, this means that the differences within Siegen are rather small for rents. More than the location, the condition of the house and apartment often decides.

We are currently offering existing apartments in Siegen. Whether one of them suits you, we would be happy to clarify in a conversation, but the figures on this page apply independently of that for every apartment in the city.

06Rules for Landlords in Siegen

In Siegen, there is no rent control (Mietpreisbremse). The NRW Tenant Protection Ordinance names 57 municipalities; Siegen is not among them. The ordinance applies to rent control until Dec 31, 2029, and otherwise until Feb 28, 2030.

Two rules follow from this. In the case of a new lease, the rent level is freely negotiable. The only limits are the prohibition of excessive rents (§ 5 Economic Criminal Law) and usury. For an ongoing rental agreement, the general capping limit applies: the rent may rise by a maximum of 20% in three years and never above the local comparison rent. Because the rent index is not qualified, you must justify an increase well, for example with three comparison apartments or an expert opinion.

When buying in North Rhine-Westphalia, you pay 6.5% property transfer tax, one of the highest rates in Germany. In addition, there are notary and land registry costs of around 2% of the purchase price if you finance, or somewhat more for small purchase prices. A broker may be added depending on the object. You can calculate your ancillary purchase costs with the Ancillary Purchase Costs Calculator; the guide to notary costs explains the items at the notary.

07Example Calculation: a Rented Apartment in Siegen

Let's take Julia, 38, single, employed with a taxable income of €60,000. She buys a rented condominium with 60 m², built in 1988, in a medium location. The purchase price of €116,400 corresponds to the average of €1,940/m². The rent is at the rent index level of €7.35/m². The name is made up, the figures are a calculation example and not a forecast.

In this example, Julia pays around €99 a month out of her own pocket, after tax. Of this, €146 flows into repayment, i.e., into her own assets. Viewed without repayment, a small surplus of around €47 a month remains after tax.

Why is the additional payment smaller than in many major cities? Because the purchase price in relation to the rent is low. The downside: in a house from the 1980s, the roof, windows, or heating are often due in the next few years. Our post on Taxing Rental Income explains how rental income is taxed.

Interest and vacancy move the calculation more strongly than the rent. A special levy for a renovation is not included in this calculation.

For comparison: a new build apartment in Siegen

What changes if Julia buys a newly built apartment instead of the existing one? We take 45 m² at the average price that the expert committee determined for first sales in 2025: €4,230/m². This results in €190,350. Julia pays property transfer tax (€12,373) and notary and land registry costs (€3,438) from equity, together €15,811. We set the rent at €10.60/m², the average rent for new build apartments sold in 2025 according to the expert committee. The 2026 rent index names €9.35 to €11.50/m² for apartments from the year 2023 onwards, depending on equipment, with a 10% surcharge for small apartments up to 45 m².

In the first year, the depreciation is around four times as high as for the existing apartment (€8,203 instead of €2,010), and in a new house there is usually little maintenance in the first few years. On the other hand, the square meter costs more than twice as much, and the gross rental yield drops to around 3.0% instead of 4.5%. Before tax, Julia pays around €418 a month here; after tax, it's around €100, almost exactly as much as for the existing apartment. Because the reducing-balance depreciation is calculated every year from the smaller remaining value, the tax savings decrease in the following years. Rent control does not apply in Siegen; for apartments used and rented for the first time after Oct 1, 2014, it would not be applicable anyway according to § 556f BGB.

08Opportunities and Risks in Siegen

There are demonstrable points in favor of Siegen. Market-active vacancy is low, almost every second household is a single-person household, and the city attracts more commuters every day than it gives up. The university and clinics ensure demand that does not depend solely on industry. And the purchase prices are so low that the gross rental yield is higher than in most major cities.

On the other hand, there are equally clear points:

• Shrinking region: IT.NRW expects 6.1% fewer inhabitants for the city until 2050, and 8.7% for the district.
• Economic dependence: The industry is solid but depends on exports and the global economy.
• Sanierungstau (renovation backlog): Low square meter prices often reflect older houses; special levies for roof or heating can quickly occur.
• Rents: With €7 to €8 per m², the margin for costs and repairs is significantly smaller than in high-rent cities.
• Resale: In a shrinking region, the value of an apartment increases less strongly, and a sale can take longer.

09Other Locations

Other cities in North Rhine-Westphalia: Overview NRW · Aachen · Bielefeld · Bochum · Bonn · Dortmund · Duisburg · Düsseldorf · Essen · Gelsenkirchen · Cologne · Mönchengladbach · Münster · Oberhausen · Paderborn · Wuppertal

All locations in comparison: Where is a real estate investment worthwhile? Cities in comparison 2026 · Which federal state is suitable? All 16 in comparison

10Read more

• Condominium as a capital investment: Pros and Cons
• Taxing rental income
• Notary costs when buying real estate
• Rental yield calculator
• Ancillary purchase costs calculator
• Property transfer tax in North Rhine-Westphalia

11Sources

All sources retrieved on Oct 13, 2026.

• Federal Statistical Office, Gemeindeverzeichnis-Informationssystem GV-ISys, population as of Dec 31, 2025
• IT.NRW, Municipal profile Siegen, City, as of Sept 10, 2026
• IT.NRW, Municipal model calculation 2024–2050 (July 15, 2024)
• 2022 Census (deadline May 15, 2022): housing stock, vacancy, owner-occupancy rate, net cold rent via wahlatlas.net; households and single-person households via IT.NRW Census 2022 evaluation
• Federal Employment Agency, Employees at place of work and residence (June 30, 2025), Siegen, City; Commuter analysis NRW 2025
• Federal Employment Agency, Labor market report September 2026, Siegen Agency district (Press release 031/2026)
• University of Siegen, Student numbers for the 2025/26 winter semester (Oct 21, 2025)
• Siegen Expert Committee for Property Values, 2026 Property Market Report (sales cases 2025); Market monitoring dashboards
• Rent Index Altkreis Siegen 2026, published by Mieterbund Siegen und Umgebung e.V. and Haus & Grund Siegen e.V.
• NRW Tenant Protection Ordinance: Mieterschutzverordnung NRW, GV. NRW. 2025 p. 656 ff.
• North Rhine-Westphalia property transfer tax 6.5% (G v. Dec 17, 2014, GV. NRW. 2014 p. 886); Notary and land registry according to § 34 GNotKG; 2026 income tax tariff according to § 32a EStG; Depreciation according to § 7 EStG and § 7b EStG
• All example calculations, purchase price factors and gross rental yields: own calculation, as of Oct 13, 2026

Note: This page is for general information and is not investment, tax or legal advice. All figures are example calculations with disclosed assumptions, as of Oct 13, 2026. Past developments are not a reliable indication of future ones.