Transferring money to Germany for a property: no controls, one payment rule, one due date.
// Short answer
Germany has no currency or capital controls on buying property or taking the proceeds home. The rules that apply are about how you pay: never in cash, crypto or gold, and with proof of a bank payment to the notary before ownership moves. The price falls due only when the notary says so, after your claim is secured.
Rules and rates as of September 2026. Transfer tax is set by each state and property tax by each municipality, so check your state and city. Every figure links to its source.
On this page
Are there currency controls on buying property in Germany?
No. Germany has no currency or capital controls on buying property or on repatriating the proceeds of a sale. The only reporting duty is statistical, and it falls on German residents: incoming and outgoing cross-border payments over EUR 50,000 must be reported to the Deutsche Bundesbank (§ 67 AWV).
So a buyer living abroad has no report to file for the transfer itself. The reporting sits with residents in Germany.
How can you pay for property in Germany?
Only by non-cash means, meaning a bank transfer. The price cannot be paid in cash, crypto-assets, gold, platinum or gemstones, and the parties must prove non-cash payment to the notary before the transfer of ownership is filed (§ 16a GwG). Keep the bank confirmation of every payment.
This is an anti-money-laundering rule, and it applies to every buyer, German or foreign.
Sources
When do you have to send the money for a German property?
When the notary's Fälligkeitsmitteilung, the notice that the price is due, arrives. The notary sends it only after securing your claim with a priority notice in the Grundbuch and collecting the releases. Sending money before that notice removes the protection the process is built on.
If you take a mortgage, the lender pays the seller directly once the price is due, against the land charge the notary records. Transfer tax is paid separately, when the tax office sends its assessment after the notary reports the contract.
Does a foreign company buying German property have extra rules?
Yes, one. A company based abroad that owns German real estate, or agrees to buy it, must register its beneficial owners in the German Transparency Register (§ 20(1) GwG). That, and the ban on cash, crypto and precious-metal payment, are the anti-money-laundering rules that touch a property purchase.
An individual buying in their own name has no equivalent registration.
Sources
Can a foreigner take sale proceeds out of Germany?
Yes. There are no currency or capital controls on repatriating the proceeds of a German property sale. What reduces the amount that leaves is tax: a gain is taxable if you sell within 10 years of buying, at progressive rates, and you settle it through a German return.
The exit in full: selling property in Germany as a foreigner.
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See the $499 report, page by pageFrequently Asked Questions
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Header photo: Michielverbeek, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.