General advice

The majority of students and doctoral candidates in Munich live in private rooms, shared flats or their own apartments. Housing in Munich is expensive compared to other German cities. There are also significant differences in rental prices depending on the distance from the city center. A cheaper alternative to the private housing market is living in a student residence run by the Munich Student Union. However, as a result, there is a great deal of demand and usually extremely long waiting lists. It is therefore a good idea to start your search for affordable housing early on.

Most landlords are interested in long-term tenants. The general rule is: The shorter your stay in Munich, the more difficult it is to find an appartment for rent on the real estate market. Renting an unfurnished appartment from abroad is usually not feasible, because landlords want to get to know their tenants in person before concluding an open-ended tenancy agreement.

You should bring the following documents with you when visiting an appartment:

• Information about yourself (CV)
• Copy of your identification document (ID)
• German citizens: Schufa-Auskunft
• Proof of income (Scholarship, work contract, payroll) 

We also recommend looking in the suburbs of Munich, since housing is often more affordable there than downtown, and there are usually convenient local public transit connections.

Please inform yourself in advance about the location of your doctoral institution / faculty / school, as many of TUM institutions are not located in Munich, but in Garching b. Munich and Freising Weihenstephan. Please also note that individual chairs and research groups are sometimes not located directly on the main premises of the respective faculty / school, but have their own locations that might be located in a completely different area of the city. Therefore, you should definitely inquire about your exact place of work / research in advance.

Please research the location of your department and chair ahead of time, since many TUM departments / chairs are not located in downtown Munich, but in Garching and in Freising-Weihenstephan.

The TUM-GS Welcome Office will gladly to provide you with information material for your apartment search and should be contacted well in advance of your planned move to Munich. You can also find helpful information and links about student residences and the housing market on the general TUM website regarding accommodation.

 

Level of rents in Munich

The following tables show which minimum rents you should expect. In the outer areas of Munich, prices for monthly rents start at 500 Euro for a single room. Rooms in a shared apartment are a bit cheaper and start at 350 Euro. Guest doctoral researchers who are looking for short-term renting of furnished apartments will have to pay higher rents.

Please note, in Germany, there are the so-called Kaltmiete ("cold rent") and Warmmiete ("warm rent"). Kaltmiete is the price you pay for the apartment only, whereas Warmmiete includes additional costs like water or heating. Whether Warmmiete includes electricity or internet costs varies widely. Therefore, you should clarify beforehand what is included in the Warmmiete.