Mortgage advice for Germany: which route fits if your residence or income is abroad?

Choose your topic

Start with tax non-residency if you live outside Germany, with foreign-currency income if you are paid in a currency other than the euro, and with follow-on financing if your fixed-rate period is ending.

650+ banks compared; §34i GewO authorisation; €0 for your advice; 100 % with suitable credit, purchase costs from own funds.

Which financing page is mine? You live outside Germany: start with tax non-residency. You are paid in a currency other than the euro: some lenders do not accept foreign-currency income — others do, so start with foreign-currency income.

Your fixed-rate period is ending: follow-on financing — two years early if you have moved abroad. Buying to let from abroad or unsure whether the property itself is financeable: the lending value, not the purchase price, decides. Foreign-currency income and the banks that accept it.

Mortgage advice: is a rejection about my income? In cross-border cases almost never. The reasons are legal and operational: which law governs the contract, whether the lender can serve notice and enforce the security, whether the assessment can be documented to German standards. These are structural questions — and there are lenders who have already answered them. Cross-border commuters.

Who is 100 % purchase-price financing for? A lever for investors, doctors and clients with top credit standing who want to keep their equity working: closing costs from own funds, and the household income must carry the instalment. Calculate the closing costs.

Who arranges this? Perini Finance & Property — licensed under §34i GewO, 650+ banks compared, we know the banks whose lending rules cover follow-up financing, foreign-currency income, older or listed properties, weak energy classes and residence abroad. Advice costs you nothing; we are as a rule paid by the financing bank — brokerage under §34i GewO by Olga Nikushkina. Foreign-currency income and the banks that accept it.

Are German mortgages available if my income or residence is abroad? Yes — German mortgages are possible even with income from abroad, residence abroad or a hard-to-value property; they simply run through a different set of lenders than the classic resident case.

Three questions decide almost every case: Is there enough equity — and where does it come from, including a mortgage-free property?

Is the income recognised — euro, foreign currency, self-employed, from abroad? And is the property bankable?

The bottleneck is rarely credit standing alone, but whether any institution underwrites the specific case at all: non-residents, foreign currency, cross-border commuters, older stock with a refurbishment backlog.

Matching case to lender is the actual brokerage work — it belongs in a conversation, not on the page. §34i brokerage and, in Portugal, a locally licensed intermediary, from a single source. Not legal or tax advice.

Additional financing: what if construction costs more than planned? Then you need additional financing — a further loan for costs not covered by the original facility.

This is more common than people assume and no sign of poor planning: construction cost increases, contractor variations, ground conditions that only show up once digging starts. The decisive point is sequence.

Anyone who goes to the bank before the shortfall negotiates from a normal position.

Anyone who waits until invoices are outstanding negotiates under pressure, and pays for it.

Second: the original lender holds first rank in the land register.

Additional financing ranks behind it and is therefore more expensive; whether the existing bank or another is cheaper has to be calculated.

We compare more than 650 banks and pick the one that fits your case. Advice costs you nothing; we are as a rule paid by the financing bank. Brokerage of consumer mortgage loans under §34i GewO by Olga Nikushkina.

Property documents, once a property is found (21 documents)

Purchase contract — a draft is enough for the pre-check; Current land-register extract, no more than three months old; Cadastral map or site plan; Living-space calculation; Floor plans and construction drawings with dimensions; Sectional drawing with dimensions, for houses; Calculation of the enclosed volume (cubature), not for condominiums; Current property photos: exterior front, side, rear and interior; Energy certificate — mandatory on sale since 2014;

Declaration of division, condominiums and multi-family houses only; For a flat: current budget plan or latest service charge statement of the owners' association; Building insurance policy for an existing property; Building specification and permit, new builds only; When buying a plot: development plan, extract from the register of building encumbrances and a list of the development costs; Construction contract with payment schedule, new builds only — a draft is enough for the pre-check;

For a new build: proof of fire insurance during construction and builder's liability insurance; Cost breakdown by trade or contractor quotes, for new builds, conversions or modernisation; List of planned self-performed work, split into materials and labour — only if you do part of the work yourself; List of past modernisations with year, for existing properties; Ground lease agreement, leasehold properties only; Sales brochure or listing, if available.

If the property is let (2 documents): Existing tenancy agreements and the last three months of rent received; New build: the expected rent from the local rent index.

Refinancing and follow-on financing (4 documents): The complete existing loan agreement; The last two annual statements from the existing bank; Outstanding-balance certificate; Land-charge deed of the current lender.

This list is for preparation and is not an offer. Which documents a bank actually requests depends on the lender and the case — items that do not apply simply fall away. Checklist as of 25 September 2026. No tax or legal advice.

The same list in German, with the three downloadable checklists, is on Mortgage documents (German page). The bilingual PDF (DE/EN) is sent by e-mail — enter your address and the link arrives straight away: Germany property financing checklist 2026 (PDF).

Mortgage advice: what does it cost you? Nothing — brokered independently under §34i GewO; as a rule the financing bank pays the commission.

Rejection is rarely about your income

Clients arrive convinced that they were declined because they do not earn enough. In cross-border cases that is almost never the reason. The reason is legal and operational: which law governs the contract, whether the lender can serve notice on you, whether it can enforce the security, whether the credit assessment can be documented to the standard German law requires.

That is good news, because those are structural questions with structural answers — and there are lenders who have already answered them. They do not advertise, and they do not appear on comparison sites. Finding them is the work.

Inheritance tax for non-residents: The €2,000 allowance was abolished in 2017. What applies today — and why the financing structure helps decide what is taxed.

Release equity to buy abroad: Use your paid-off German property as the deposit for Spain or Portugal — German loan and Spanish financing from a single source.

Buying in another euro country: Charge the mortgage-free property in one country and buy in another: as a rule up to 50 % of the bank valuation, loans from around €500,000.

Holistic advice: More than a rate: repayment, subsidies, special repayments and fixed period working together.

Price is not lending value: Why the bank values less than you pay — property value and CRR III explained.

QNG new build: KfW 297/298 up to €150,000 plus an annuity loan — the order of application matters.

Follow-up for non-residents: Existing German mortgage, residence abroad — restructuring with a different set of banks.

Buy-to-let for non-residents: Residence abroad, purchase in Germany — typical loan-to-value of 60–100%.

Frequently asked questions