Valuing an apartment, four methods and what they produce in practice

For a condominium with no direct equivalent, the usual valuation does not work. A square-metre price for a district is an average across buildings, build years and floors, and those three characteristics explain most of the price.

For my own apartment on the 41st floor of Grand Tower I therefore ran four independent routes to see whether they land in the same place. The procedure transfers to any apartment. The specific case serves here as evidence that it works.

The starting position

The unit is 97.24 square metres after a 2026 re-measurement, sits on the 41st floor of 47, is a corner position facing the city skyline and south, and has an open corner balcony of 13.82 square metres. It was bought off-plan in mid-2016 at roughly 9,605 euro per square metre on today's area basis.

All comparison data comes from publicly visible offers in the same building. Seven units were listed at the time of the analysis, between the 9th and the 40th floors.

Method A: adjusted comparison with a similar unit

The closest comparable sits about four floors lower, at 92 square metres, three rooms, facing south and the airport, with a small balcony, offered at roughly 12,990 euro per square metre.

Three adjustments apply to that base: four floors of height, a skyline rather than airport aspect, and a large rather than small balcony. That produces a range of 14,030 to 14,550 euro per square metre.

Method B: height comparison

The second comparable sits only one floor lower and is larger at 118.6 square metres, but faces the Messe and the Taunus and has a small balcony. It is offered at roughly 12,650 euro per square metre.

Here the height adjustment almost disappears, and orientation and balcony carry the weight instead. Result: 14,040 to 14,420 euro per square metre.

Method C: historical uplift

The third route ignores the comparable offers and works forward from the original purchase price instead. The 2016 first purchase was roughly 9,605 euro per square metre. The average uplift of the comparable units in the building since 2016 is about 46.5 per cent.

Applied, that gives roughly 14,076 euro per square metre. With a deliberately conservative five per cent discount: 13,370 to 14,080 euro per square metre.

Method D: data point from a nearby floor

The fourth route uses a single data point from the 39th floor, roughly 13,630 euro per square metre. Two floors higher, a better aspect and a large balcony give: 13,900 to 14,180 euro per square metre.

The convergence

Method	Euro per m²	Total (97.24 m²)
A, south-unit comparison	14,030 – 14,550	1,364,000 – 1,415,000
B, height comparison	14,040 – 14,420	1,365,000 – 1,402,000
C, historical uplift	13,370 – 14,080	1,300,000 – 1,369,000
D, 39th floor data point	13,900 – 14,180	1,352,000 – 1,379,000
Mean	~14,070	~1,368,000

Four routes that start from different places and meet within a few per cent of one another. That agreement is the actual result. If one of the four sat far outside the others, the data base would be too thin and the valuation would not hold.

The discount almost everyone forgets

All four methods rest on asking prices, not notarised sale prices. Asking prices typically sit a few per cent above the price actually achieved, and several of the comparable units had visibly been on the market for some time.

Applying a discount of around three per cent gives an expected market value of about 13,650 euro per square metre, or roughly 1,327,000 euro.

Skipping that step values systematically high. The only reference here that does not rest on asking data is the valuation committee for property values of the City of Frankfurt am Main, which evaluates every notarised contract. How the tower segment sits against those official figures is set out in the Frankfurt residential tower price comparison.

What became the asking price

The asking price was set at 1,310,000 euro, or roughly 13,472 euro per square metre. That sits about four per cent below the methodological convergence, and slightly below the market value already adjusted for the discount.

The methodology would have supported an asking price of up to roughly 1,370,000 euro. Forgoing that is a deliberate choice: the usual negotiation buffer is stripped out, the price stands as a fixed price, and what is bought with it is a prompt clean transaction rather than a long stay on the market. One of the comparable units has visibly stood for some time without a price change, which shows precisely the risk that overpricing creates.

Why the price is in three parts

The total consists of three separate positions: the apartment at 1,310,000 euro, the underground parking space at 40,000, and furniture, kitchen and fittings at 20,000.

The separation is not presentation, it is fiscal. No Grunderwerbsteuer falls on furniture, kitchen and fittings when that position is stated separately. At the Hessen rate of six per cent that is a direct saving for the buyer. The parking space is a distinct asset and priced to the market; another unit in the building currently offers its space at 45,000 euro.

The full cost side, including transaction costs and the running Hausgeld, sits in Grand Tower prices, and the yield side in the investment guide.

What transfers from this

Three points hold regardless of the building:

• One method is never enough. Only the convergence of several independent routes makes a valuation reliable.
• Asking data is not sale data. Without the discount you talk yourself rich.
• Separate what is legally separate. Movable contents and a parking space do not belong in the apartment's square-metre price.

Why a valuation gets disclosed at all, rather than kept as a negotiating advantage, follows from the form of sale. How a sale away from the portals runs is set out in the off-market sale guide and the private sale hub, and how the discreet market works in Germany generally in the quiet market.

The apartment itself sits on the 41st floor page. I make the full analysis with all comparison data available to serious buyers on request, through the enquiry form on the home page.