Buy a House in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe: Prices and Market Guide

Bad Homburg's centre has a pedestrian-friendly old town, the Kurpark, the Landgrafenschloss (the former residence of the Landgraves of Hesse-Homburg) and the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Bad spa baths. The Saalburg, a reconstructed Roman fort, lies in the hills to the north. The Taunus gives walkers and cyclists easy access to woodland.

The town includes several districts that buyers will see named in listings, such as Kirdorf, Gonzenheim, Dornholzhausen, Ober-Erlenbach and Ellerhöhe. Dornholzhausen and the area around the Kurpark are generally considered among the more sought-after residential parts, while Gonzenheim and Kirdorf are more mixed. Verify the micro-location in person, as prices vary sharply between streets.

Commuting. S-Bahn line S5 links Bad Homburg with Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, and the Autobahn network is nearby. Many residents work in Frankfurt's banks, consultancies and law firms, and international schools in the Taunus area serve expatriate families.

Who buys. Executives and professionals relocating to Frankfurt, families wanting space and green surroundings, and wealthy retirees. Buy-to-let investors will find yields compressed by high prices, so test the numbers with local rents.

Germany places no general restrictions on foreign buyers. Key points:

1. Reserve and review. An agent may ask for a reservation fee. Review the Exposé, the land register extract and, for apartments, the owners' association minutes.
2. Notary. All property purchases must be notarised. The notary drafts the contract and acts for both sides. You get the draft at least two weeks before signing for consumer purchases.
3. Payment and registration. After signing, a priority notice (Auflassungsvormerkung) protects you, and once the transfer tax is paid, ownership is registered in the Grundbuch.

Taxes and fees. Real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) in Hesse is 6%, so on a €920,000 purchase that is €55,200. Notary and land-register fees are typically around 1.5% to 2%. Agent commission applies if you use one; for home purchases the cost is split between buyer and seller, but confirm the terms in writing. Property tax (Grundsteuer) is paid annually to the municipality.

See the German property buying guide for foreigners and mortgages in Germany for non-residents. Use the mortgage calculator to model repayments.

Frankfurt am Main is the neighbour that matters most. The city centre is about 15 km south-east, and many buyers compare it directly with Bad Homburg. Wiesbaden, the Hessian state capital, is around 45 km to the south-west and has its own spa-town character.

Bonn and Cologne are in North Rhine-Westphalia, far to the north-west, and are separate markets with a different tax rate: NRW charges 6.5% transfer tax against Hesse's 6%.

For a country-wide view, see property for sale in Germany and the Germany market analysis.