Anyone bidding at a German foreclosure auction wants to know where the winning bid will end up. Round figures circulate online, mostly without a source. This article brings together the official figures that the local valuation boards publish in their property market reports: 24 districts and cities, each figure with year, number of cases and a link to the report.
In 24 districts and cities that publish the figure openly, the winning bid averages (median) around 80 per cent of the appraised market value. Most regions lie between 70 and 90 per cent, and 21 of 24 are below 100 per cent. Individual winning bids range from a few per cent to well over 100 per cent. As of 30 September 2026.
The appraised market value (Verkehrswert) is the value the court sets before the auction on the basis of an expert report. The award (Zuschlag) is the court decision that gives the property to the highest bidder; here it means the amount at which that happens. Klaava is a German platform for forced-sale auction dates.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Regions | 24: 17 in North Rhine-Westphalia, 6 in Brandenburg, 1 in Hamburg |
| Median | 80 per cent of the appraised value |
| Middle half | around 70 to 90 per cent |
| Lowest value | 50 per cent (Elbe-Elster district) |
| Highest value | 144 per cent (Borken district) |
| Below 100 per cent | 21 of 24 regions |
| Data year | mostly 2025 |
The midpoint is therefore about a fifth below the appraised value, not half. The Hamburg valuation board puts it this way: only with "shelf warmers" is an award well below the appraised value possible (our translation).
Every award goes to the local valuation board (§ 195 BauGB). This is the public body for each district or independent city that collects all purchase prices and publishes an annual property market report. Only some boards turn this into a ratio. There is no official ratio for a federal state or for Germany as a whole.
State reports count the cases at most. The report for the state of Brandenburg lists 287 awards in 2025, which were "evaluated purely quantitatively" (our translation). The North Rhine-Westphalia state report and the nationwide Immobilienmarktbericht Deutschland have no section on the subject. Klaava does not know the winning bids either, because the states' ZVG portal publishes no result. Only about one in five of around 180 reports reviewed gives a ratio at all.
The table shows the winning bid as a percentage of the appraised value for 24 districts and cities, sorted by size. The range runs from 50 per cent in the Elbe-Elster district to 144 per cent in the Borken district. Each region has one key figure, mostly for 2025, with the number of cases and a link to the report. As of 30 September 2026.
| Region | State | Winning bid in % of appraised value | Property type | Cases | Data year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elbe-Elster district | Brandenburg | 50 | developed plots | 18 | 2025 | Report 2025 |
| City of Paderborn | North Rhine-Westphalia | 53 | all property types | not stated | 2024 | Report 2026 |
| Barnim district | Brandenburg | 54 | detached and two-family houses | 19 | 2025 | Report 2025 |
| Märkischer Kreis (excl. Iserlohn, Lüdenscheid) | North Rhine-Westphalia | 61 | all property types | 22 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| Prignitz district | Brandenburg | 68 | developed plots | 6 | 2023 to 2025 | Report 2025 |
| Potsdam | Brandenburg | 69 | developed plots | 15 | 2025 | Report 2025 |
| Oberbergischer Kreis | North Rhine-Westphalia | 70 | all excl. agricultural and forest land | 25 | 2024 and 2025 | Report 2026 |
| City of Hagen | North Rhine-Westphalia | 70 | all property types | 17 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| City of Mönchengladbach | North Rhine-Westphalia | 73 | detached houses | 4 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| Hamburg | Hamburg | 76 | detached and two-family houses | 13 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| Dahme-Spreewald district | Brandenburg | 79 | developed plots | 5 | 2025 | Report 2025 |
| Oder-Spree district | Brandenburg | 80 | developed plots | 10 | 2025 | Report 2025 |
| City of Moers | North Rhine-Westphalia | 80 | flats and commercial units | 3 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| Hochsauerlandkreis (excl. Arnsberg) | North Rhine-Westphalia | 82 | houses | not stated | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| City of Hamm | North Rhine-Westphalia | 83.7 | developed plots | 11 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| Städteregion Aachen | North Rhine-Westphalia | 85 | developed plots | 22 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| City of Gelsenkirchen | North Rhine-Westphalia | 87 | all property types | 27 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| City of Bottrop | North Rhine-Westphalia | 89 | residential buildings | 5 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| Viersen district | North Rhine-Westphalia | 90 | all property types | 22 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| City of Krefeld | North Rhine-Westphalia | 93 | flats | 5 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| Paderborn district (excl. city of Paderborn) | North Rhine-Westphalia | 96 | all property types | 14 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| Olpe district | North Rhine-Westphalia | 102 | all property types | 10 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| City of Duisburg | North Rhine-Westphalia | 129 | flats | 16 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
| Borken district | North Rhine-Westphalia | 144 | developed plots | 13 | 2025 | Report 2026 |
"All property types" means one figure across all awards in the region. "Not stated" means the report gives no number of cases.
Within a region, property types often lie far apart. In Potsdam, developed plots reached 69 per cent in 2025, flats and commercial units 54 per cent. In Hamburg, flats were at 89 per cent, detached and two-family houses at 76 per cent. Undeveloped land and agricultural and forest land often sell above the appraised value: in Cottbus undeveloped plots fetched 160 per cent on average, in Dahme-Spreewald agricultural and forest land 167 per cent. These rows do not count towards the key figure.
The ratios rest on few cases, mix different properties and measure the winning bid against expert reports that are often more than a year old by the auction date. On top of that come the value thresholds of the first auction date, rights that remain in place and partition auctions. Each of these shifts the ratio without the market changing.
The key figures rest on 3 to 27 cases, in six regions on fewer than ten. A single outlier then drives the average. The Elbe-Elster district writes that with 13 % and 1,600 %, the range of extreme values is very wide this year (our translation). In the Borken district the range across all awards runs from 40 to 554 per cent. Accordingly, the figures jump: in the Oder-Spree district, developed plots fell from 151 per cent (2024, 8 cases) to 80 per cent (2025, 10 cases).
The property mix adds to this. In Hagen, the 2025 figure covers nine flats, seven developed plots and one allotment garden. The city of Paderborn gives no figure at all for some years, because it is "not appropriate to derive a percentage owing to a small number of cases or very different property characteristics" (our translation).
The appraised value describes the market on the valuation date of the report. The Hamburg valuation board points out that the valuations were in some cases carried out more than a year before the auction date. If prices have fallen since then, the ratio drops even when the winning bid matches today's market price. How old the reports in current proceedings are is shown in the analysis of appraised values by federal state.
The Mönchengladbach valuation board writes: "The award is, however, made independently of the appraised value, which serves only as a guide" (our translation). At the first auction date that is only partly true. If the highest bid, including rights that remain in place, is below half of the appraised value, the court refuses the award (§ 85a ZVG). Below 70 per cent, an entitled party can apply for the award to be refused (§ 74a ZVG).
After such a refusal, neither threshold applies at the next auction date. An auction date without any bid, by contrast, does not lift them (§ 77 ZVG). The reports do not separate first and later auction dates. The rules in detail are explained in The minimum bid at a foreclosure auction.
Some rights in the land register, such as a prior land charge or a right of residence, do not end with the award. The successful bidder takes them over in addition to the cash bid, the part of the bid paid in cash. If a report measures only the cash bid against the appraised value, as Dahme-Spreewald does, the ratio looks low although the buyer spends more. What such rights cost is explained in Land charges at a German foreclosure auction.
In a partition auction, a property is auctioned to dissolve a co-ownership, for example among heirs (§ 180 ZVG). Hagen, Dahme-Spreewald and the Städteregion Aachen expressly include them, and in Potsdam distress sales may be included.
In the time series of the openly licensed reports, the ratios up to 2022 were often at or above 100 per cent of the appraised value, and since 2023 mostly between 60 and 90 per cent. This is an observation from five series in North Rhine-Westphalia, not a law. The reports themselves hardly explain the decline. As of 30 September 2026.
| Region and property type | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Märkischer Kreis, all property types | 85 | 95 | 85 | 73 | 63 | 61 |
| Städteregion Aachen, developed plots | 98 | 115 | 74 | 61 | 77 | 85 |
| City of Gelsenkirchen, all property types | 145 | 191 | 129 | 119 | 124 | 87 |
| City of Hamm, developed plots | 130.9 | 118.5 | 83.5 | 72.9 | 97.4 | 83.7 |
| Paderborn district, all property types | not stated | 126 | 122 | 89 | 62 | 96 |
The clearest decline is in the Märkischer Kreis: from 95 per cent (2021, 31 cases) to 61 per cent (2025, 22 cases). In the city of Paderborn, the winning bid in every year with a figure from 2014 to 2023 lay between 99 and 115 per cent, and in 2024 at 53 per cent. Recently some series have risen again, such as Aachen from 61 to 85 per cent. Plausible reasons, though not shown in the reports, are higher interest rates and old expert reports: if an appraised value was set at higher prices, the later winning bid comes in below it.
No, at least not nationwide. The often quoted figure of 59 per cent comes from a master's thesis at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar from 2010. It analyses around 1,500 comparable auctions of residential property, all of them in Thuringia. The openly published reports today show around 80 per cent on average, though for other regions.
Sebastian Kohts reviewed data on around 25,000 scheduled auctions and selected about 1,500 as comparable. The average proceeds ratio, that is proceeds divided by appraised value, was 59 per cent, with a standard deviation of 21 percentage points (abstract as PDF). The thesis itself shows that the ratio rises with a more central location. As a national average the figure is therefore unsuitable, all the more so as it is more than 15 years old.
A ratio of around 80 per cent describes the average of many proceedings, not the price of your property. It helps you place a bid: below 50 per cent of the appraised value there is usually no award at the first auction date, and a bid at 100 per cent is not unusually high. Your limit comes from the expert report, rights, ancillary costs and financing.
The appraised values of upcoming auction dates are shown in the auction search.
On Klaava, the median appraised value of the 2,756 upcoming auction dates with an appraised value is 172,000 euros (as of 30 September 2026). At a winning bid of 80 per cent that would be 137,600 euros, at 70 per cent 120,400 euros.
The table is a cross-section of North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Hamburg, not a national average. It includes only reports under an open licence. Each region has one key figure: the row across all property types, otherwise the residential or developed property type with the most cases. The reports do not calculate their ratios uniformly, so the figures are only roughly comparable.
All figures come from the linked property market reports. Klaava took the figures from the reports and only selected the key figure for each region. Only the form has changed for two regions: the Märkischer Kreis (39 per cent below the appraised value) and Hagen (around 30 per cent below) give a deviation, converted here into a percentage of the appraised value.
The licences require the following attributions, quoted in the original German:
How far below the appraised value do German foreclosure auctions sell? In 24 districts and cities whose valuation boards publish the figure openly, the median winning bid is 80 per cent of the appraised value, about a fifth below it. Most regions lie between 70 and 90 per cent. As of 30 September 2026.
Can the winning bid be above the appraised value? Yes. In the Borken district the average for developed plots in 2025 was 144 per cent, in Duisburg 129 per cent for flats and in the Olpe district 102 per cent. Undeveloped land and agricultural and forest land often sell above the appraised value.
Does the figure of 59 per cent apply to all of Germany? No. It comes from a master's thesis at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar from 2010 and rests on around 1,500 auctions of residential property in Thuringia. There is no official national figure.
Can the winning bid be below 50 per cent of the appraised value? Usually not at the first auction date; the court then refuses the award under § 85a ZVG. If the award was refused at an earlier date because of the 50 or 70 per cent threshold, the thresholds no longer apply. An auction date without any bid does not lift them.
Where can I find the ratio for my district? In the property market report of the local valuation board, usually in a section on foreclosure auctions. In North Rhine-Westphalia the reports are on BORIS-NRW, in Brandenburg on the valuation boards' portal. Many reports only give the number of cases, and there is no official state ratio.
In the openly documented regions, the winning bid averages around 80 per cent of the appraised value, not half, and since 2023 it has been lower than before. For a single property the ratio says little. Work from your own expert report and use the ratio only to put your bid in context.
How the value thresholds work at the first and second auction date is explained in The minimum bid at a foreclosure auction. The appraised values of current proceedings are shown in Appraised values at German foreclosure auctions by federal state.
This article is general information. It does not replace legal advice from a qualified lawyer.
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