German municipal revenues from the real estate tax have significantly increased in recent years. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the state collected a total of 15.5 billion euros in real estate tax in 2023, which is a 25.2 percent increase compared to ten years earlier. In 2013, the real estate tax revenues were still 12.4 billion euros. As a source of revenue for the municipalities, the real estate tax has lost a bit of importance over the same period: it made up 14.8 percent of the total municipal revenues in 2013, but only 11.0 percent ten years later.
In the first half of 2024, the municipalities collected 8.0 billion euros in real estate tax, which accounts for 13 percent of the municipal revenues. The real estate tax remains an important source of revenue for the municipalities, after the trade tax (59 percent) and income tax (25 percent). The majority of the real estate taxes, with 7.8 billion euros, came from the type B, which affects developed or undeveloped land. The type A, on the other hand, concerns agricultural and forestry assets. Starting from January 1, 2025, the real estate tax will be collected on the basis of reformed rules and new assessment rates. According to the statisticians, the data on real estate tax revenues and assessment rates from 2025 are not yet available.
The increase in real estate tax revenues varied by federal state and is likely to be related to the development of the real estate tax assessment rates. The real estate tax revenues in Hesse, for example, increased particularly strongly: from 0.9 billion euros in 2013 to 1.4 billion euros in 2023 (+56.5 percent). The real estate tax revenues in the Saarland (+44.9 percent to 0.2 billion euros) and in Rhineland-Palatinate (+42.2 percent to 0.7 billion euros) also increased significantly over the same period.
The smallest increase in real estate tax revenues was seen in Saxony, with a growth of around 12.3 percent. There, the real estate tax revenues increased from 0.48 billion euros in 2013 to 0.54 billion euros in 2023. In Berlin (+12.3 percent to 0.86 billion euros) and in Saxony-Anhalt (+13.3 percent to 0.27 billion euros), the increase in real estate tax revenues was relatively low.
The real estate tax had a particularly high share of the municipal revenues in 2023 in Bremen (15.4 percent), in Berlin (13.6 percent) and in the Saarland (13.5 percent). The real estate tax was less important for municipalities in Bavaria (7.9 percent), in Hamburg (8.9 percent) and in Baden-Württemberg (9.2 percent).