Another activity-gated occupation, like Bankkaufmann: the title is free, but brokering property, developing it or managing residential property for others all require a §34c GewO permit — with a continuing training obligation attached. And unlike the BaFin case, the permit belongs to the business, not to you.
| Official title | Immobilienkaufmann/-frau |
| Protected title | No |
| Category | commercial |
| Typical qualification | Duale Ausbildung, 3 years |
| Examining body | IHK |
| Regulated | Activity-gated — §34c GewO for brokerage, development and residential property management |
| Last reviewed | 2026-09 |
What §34c actually gates
A Gewerbeerlaubnis from the local authority is required to carry on any of these as a business:
| Activity | |
|---|---|
| Makler | Brokering sale or letting of property, or brokering loans secured on it |
| Bauträger | Developing on one’s own account with buyers’ money |
| Baubetreuer | Managing construction on someone else’s behalf |
| Wohnimmobilienverwalter | Managing residential rental and WEG property for owners — added in 2018 |
Conditions: reliability (no relevant convictions, a clean register extract), orderly financial circumstances (no insolvency, no entries in the debtors’ register), and — for managers — professional indemnity insurance.
Then a standing obligation: 20 hours of continuing training every three years for brokers and residential property managers, documented and producible on demand. It is one of the few statutory CPD duties in this repo, alongside the ones collected in occupational certificates.
The important structural difference from banking: a bank adviser’s BaFin registration is personal — you are registered, individually. A §34c permit is held by the business, and employees acting for a permitted firm do not each need one. So an employed Immobilienkaufmann needs no permit; someone setting up alone does. Check which situation an offer puts you in.
What the job involves
The Ausbildung is broader than “estate agent”, and most holders never broker anything:
| Field | Work |
|---|---|
| Mietverwaltung | Managing rented housing for owners: tenancies, rent, repairs, service-charge accounting (Betriebskostenabrechnung), arrears, terminations |
| WEG-Verwaltung | Managing blocks under the Wohnungseigentumsgesetz: owners’ meetings, resolutions, reserve funds, maintenance planning. Legally intricate and the hardest part of the occupation |
| Vermietung | Marketing, viewings, tenant selection, contracts |
| Verkauf / Makler | Valuation, marketing, negotiation, notarial completion — with the Notar doing the authentication |
| Bestandsmanagement | For housing companies and cooperatives — portfolio strategy, modernisation, energy retrofit programmes |
| Projektentwicklung | Development support |
Governing law: BGB tenancy law, WEG, Betriebskostenverordnung, the GEG for energy requirements, and the Heizkostenverordnung. This is an occupation where the law is the content, which is why the language bar is high.
The commission rules changed
Two reforms reshaped brokerage economics and are worth knowing before treating commission as the attraction:
- Bestellerprinzip (2015), lettings — whoever commissions the agent pays. In practice this ended tenant-paid commission on most rentals.
- Commission split (2020), sales of flats and single-family houses to consumers — the buyer may not be charged more than the seller, so the previously common buyer-pays-everything arrangement is gone.
Together they cut brokerage income substantially and pushed the industry toward property management, which is recurring revenue.
Pay
Market estimate. No binding tariff; housing cooperatives and municipal housing companies have their own agreements and are the better-paying, steadier employers.
| Role | Gross/month |
|---|---|
| Entry, after the Ausbildung | €2,800 – €3,400 |
| Mietverwalter/in, experienced | €3,300 – €4,000 |
| WEG-Verwalter/in, experienced | €3,600 – €4,500 |
| Housing company / cooperative, senior | €4,200 – €5,500 |
| Makler, employed with commission | €2,500 base plus commission — highly variable |
| Self-employed Makler | Not comparable, and cyclical |
| Objekt- / Portfoliomanagement, institutional | €5,000 – €7,000 |
Demand and outlook
Split, and the split is the opposite of what outsiders expect.
- Property management is short of people and will stay that way. The housing stock does not shrink, WEG management is legally demanding, energy-retrofit obligations under the GEG have added work, and the profession is ageing. This is secure, recurring, unglamorous work.
- Brokerage is cyclical and has had a bad few years. The collapse in transaction volumes from 2022 — interest rates, prices, buyer caution — cut commission income sharply and pushed many agents out. It recovers with the market; it is not a reliable base.
- Housing companies and cooperatives are large, stable employers with tariff-like terms, and they recruit this qualification directly.
Foreign candidates
- To work as an employee: no recognition required, and no permit either.
- For the visa: yes — §18a, assessed by IHK FOSA.
- To set up on your own: the §34c permit, which requires the reliability and financial-circumstances checks, and — for management — indemnity insurance. Nothing about it is restricted to Germans, but the register extracts have to come from somewhere, and authorities will ask for equivalents from your previous country of residence.
- Language: C1. Tenancy law, service-charge accounting and owners’ meetings are adversarial, documented and conducted in German.
- Visa: §18a, or §16a to train here. No Blue Card at entry level.
- Foreign property qualifications transfer poorly, because the substance is German law.
Pitfalls
- Check whether a role needs a permit or sits under the employer’s.
- WEG management is a legal specialism. Resolutions passed incorrectly are void, and the liability is real. It also pays best, for that reason.
- Commission is not income until the market cooperates. Look at the base.
- Service-charge accounting has deadlines — a late Betriebskostenabrechnung can lose the owner the claim entirely.
- The CPD obligation is yours to evidence, even as an employee of a permitted firm, once you hold a permit of your own.
Sources
- §34c GewO and the MaBV — gesetze-im-internet.de/gewo, accessed 2026-09
- Wohnungseigentumsgesetz (WEG) — gesetze-im-internet.de/woeigg, accessed 2026-09
- Gesetz über die Verteilung der Maklerkosten (2020) — bgbl.de, accessed 2026-09
- Verordnung über die Berufsausbildung zum Immobilienkaufmann — gesetze-im-internet.de, accessed 2026-09
- BERUFENET — berufenet.arbeitsagentur.de, accessed 2026-09