Aachen has had a qualified rent index since 2020, which has established itself as a key information tool for tenants and landlords.
The rent index is an objective tool for assessing rents. It reflects the customary local rents for privately financed housing and ensures transparency and reliability for all players on the rental housing market. As the name suggests, it "reflects" the customary local rents paid and thus protects landlords from uneconomically low rents and tenants from unjustifiably high rents.
In contrast to the simple rent index, the qualified rent index has various advantages - for example, it has considerable probative value in the event of a tenancy law suit and is also admissible as the basis for a judgment. In order not to lose its qualifying feature, a qualified rent index must be adjusted to market developments after two years in accordance with legal requirements. The city relies on the help of landlords to do this.
The first update of the qualified rent index was published in 2022, followed by a comprehensive update in 2024. The next update is scheduled for 2026.
Data from around 9,000 Aachen households was incorporated into the 2024 rent index. A new random sample will be drawn from these in future. The city will ask various owners of these apartments to take part in another survey. The aim is to determine the current rents and document changes since the last survey in order to draw conclusions about the development of Aachen's housing market.
Active participation in the survey is of great importance for a meaningful analysis and a representative rent index. The City of Aachen is therefore hoping for a high response rate.
The survey and the scientific evaluation will be carried out by the company DOMUS Consult Wirtschaftsberatungsgesellschaft mbH. The Analyse & Konzepte immo.sonsult GmbH institute, which already carried out the main survey for the rent index 2024, merged with DOMUS Consult in 2024.
For more information on the qualified rent index, please contact Fabienne Schmitz from the city's Housing, Social Affairs and Integration department on 0241/432-56401 or by email at fabienne.schmitz@mail.aachen.de .