An Erbbaurecht is a saleable, inheritable right to have a building on someone else’s land (§ 1 ErbbauRG). The group buys the building, not the ground, so the land price leaves the capital stack and is replaced by an annual Erbbauzins. That is often the difference between a feasible and an infeasible project.
- Legally: a grundstücksgleiches Recht — the rules on land apply (§ 11), it has its own Erbbaugrundbuch, and the building is a wesentlicher Bestandteil of the right, not of the land (§ 12). Terms of 60–110 years are normal.
- Erbbauzins: a Reallast on the right (§ 9). Municipal rates in 2026: Cologne 1.5 % p.a. of land value for the first 60 of 80 years where ≥30 % geförderter and ≥20 % preisgedämpfter Wohnungsbau is delivered, otherwise 4 %; Leipzig 2.5 % over ~110 years. Foundations and churches sit in the same 1–4 % band. For Wohnzwecke, § 9a allows an increase at most every three years and only in line with general economic change, not land-value inflation.
- Bank financeability: the right can be mortgaged, but the Beleihungswert is lower than for owned land. Lenders want a Heimfall clause paying an angemessene Vergütung (§ 2 Nr. 4, § 32) and an Entschädigungsklausel for expiry (§ 27). For housing serving minderbemittelte Bevölkerungskreise both carry a statutory floor of two thirds of the gemeiner Wert, and a contrary agreement is void. Mortgages survive a Heimfall (§ 33) — say this to a sceptical bank.
- Who grants it: municipalities via konzeptvergabe, churches, land foundations.
- Tax: Grunderwerbsteuer falls on the capitalised Erbbauzins, not a purchase price.
Related
- konzeptvergabe — how municipal Erbbaurechte are actually awarded
- grunderwerbsteuer-baugemeinschaft — how the tax is computed and the Baugemeinschaft trap
- stiftung-trias — foundation that grants Erbbaurechte to Wohnprojekte
- stiftung-edith-maryon — the other large Erbbaurecht-giving foundation
- stiftung-owner — foundations as land owners generally
- koeln-erbbaurecht-konzeptvergabe — the 1.5 % / 4 % two-tier model
- leipzig-konzeptverfahren-erbbaurecht — 2.5 %, ~110 years
- muenchen-konzeptausschreibung — Erbbaurecht or purchase, bidder’s choice
- berlin-konzeptverfahren-erbbaurecht — Berlin’s land is leased, not sold
- gls-bank-financing — a lender used to Erbbaurecht security
- eg-cooperative — the usual Erbbauberechtigte in co-op projects
- syndikat-haus-gmbh — Syndikat projects also take Erbbaurechte