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How big is the competition on the rental market really? Current numbers city by city, honestly put in context – and translated into the levers that keep you at the front despite dozens of fellow applicants.
When it feels like half of Berlin responds to every listing, you're right to ask: how big is the competition really? The numbers are tough – but they help you set realistic expectations and direct your energy where it counts. Because the competition isn't decided at the viewing; it's decided long before – in the landlord's inbox, often within the first hours after a listing goes live.
This overview sorts the figures that get thrown around, shows you city by city what to expect, and translates the raw statistics into a handful of levers you actually control. By the end you'll know not just how big the competition is – but how to stay at the front of it anyway.
Over several days, the most sought-after listings in big cities quickly add up to several hundred applications – in Berlin around 373 contact requests come in per day per ImmoScout24 (Q1 2024), 277 in Hamburg, 237 in Munich and 193 in Cologne.
An analysis by ImmoScout24 on the most sought-after rental flats shows how many contact requests per day the most popular listings receive (data basis Q1 2024). Important context: these are the top listings – roughly the most in-demand ten percent – not the average of any random flat. But these sought-after flats are exactly the ones you compete hardest for.
Berlin
373
contact requests/day, top listings
Hamburg
277
contact requests/day, top listings
Munich
237
contact requests/day, top listings
Cologne
193
contact requests/day, top listings
Nationwide, the most sought-after listings receive around 22 enquiries per day on average Quelle. So in the tense big cities, that quickly adds up to several hundred enquiries per flat over a few days.
As of: Q1 2024, data source ImmoScout24 (a single source). The figures are a snapshot of portal demand, not an official statistic – they show the order of magnitude, not the exact value.
The four big cities with the highest figures show the same pattern, just at different intensities. What the number means for your search differs from city to city, though – mainly because the gap between supply and demand is a different size everywhere.
With around 373 contact requests per day on top listings, Berlin is by far the tightest of the four markets. Inward migration is high, new construction has lagged for years, and affordable older flats in the inner districts are booked out within hours. Speed counts here almost more than anything: listings that go live in the evening often have triple-digit enquiry counts by the next morning.
What all four cities share: the number is not a fate but an order of magnitude. It tells you how many people you have to beat – not that you're hopeless. And to work out how much rent is realistic in your city, calculate it from the bottom up: How much rent can you afford?
Not every flat draws hundreds of enquiries. The competition concentrates on a small share of listings – and that share is sorted by the same three criteria almost everyone searches for.
The fiercest competition isn't "on the market" – it's on the few listings everyone clicks at the same time. Widen your search radius cleverly and you leave the bottleneck, without compromising on the flat.
The practical upshot: if you throw yourself only at the obvious top locations, you're applying exactly where the odds are worst. A slightly bigger radius, one stop further out, a less-hyped neighbourhood – and 300 competitors suddenly become 40. A well-maintained search profile helps here, surfacing the less obvious matches too: How matching via your search profile works.
There's no reliable nationwide statistic on this – but a rough rule of thumb has emerged from practice that you can orient yourself by. Picture it as a funnel: you go in at the top with many applications, and on average one offer comes out the bottom.
This is the wide mouth of the funnel. In tight markets you need this volume so enough goes in at the top in the first place. What matters is that each application is complete – half-finished enquiries barely count.
Experience shows only a handful of the applications you send turn into actual appointments. The pre-selection has already done its work here: whoever gets invited has survived the inbox.
On average the viewings yield one offer. More viewings means more chances – which is why it pays not to skimp at the top of the funnel.
That sounds discouraging, but it has a liberating flip side: a rejection is almost never a verdict on you, just the maths of the funnel. For more on how to read waiting times and rejections, see Did I get the flat?.
The crucial point: with 200 enquiries, no landlord can show 200 people around. The real selection happens in the inbox – based on the first message and the documents attached. Anyone who just writes "Is the flat still available?" is usually already out before likeability even comes into play.
That's the good news behind the big numbers: a substantial share of the hundreds of enquiries isn't serious competition at all. They're one-line messages without documents, scattershot enquiries from people who apply to everything, and profiles that obviously don't fit. The real competition – complete, fast, genuine – is much smaller. That's exactly the group you want to be in.
Against sheer volume, a perfect cover note alone won't do it – the combination of complete, fast and being found will. You hold all three of these levers yourself, long before the next matching listing goes live.
That's exactly what you can prepare before the next matching listing goes live: build your application file once and check how ready it is with the strength check – free and without sign-up.
With this competition, casting a wide net is a must: apply to everything that genuinely fits – in parallel, not one after another. Anyone who waits for one application to be answered before sending the next loses too much time in the funnel. Reckon with the wide funnel mouth from above: if you're hoping for one offer, realistically several dozen applications should be in flight.
But that only works if each application is fast. Anyone who gathers documents from scratch for every flat manages a handful per week and burns out doing it. Anyone who has maintained their file once manages many times that – each with complete documents and without any compromise on quality.
The numbers aren't meant to paralyse you but to take the pressure off. Anyone who understands that a rejection rarely hides a personal judgement takes the search less hard – and lasts longer. And lasting is half the battle with this funnel.
A few attitudes help you get through the search in good health:
Know the competition but pull your own levers, and you turn the big numbers from a bogeyman into a clear strategy: be complete, be fast, be found – and keep going.
Prepare once, apply fast to every matching flat
With your WOHNO application file you apply with one click – complete and data-minimal. That keeps you at the front of the pack.
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