A German supermarket is priced off its rent: annual net rent times a multiple, which ranges, according to BNP Paribas Real Estate, from 12.5 for value-add assets to 18.5 for the best supermarkets and discounters. On our calculation, a store of average size at average rent costs €2.3–3.4 million as a discounter, €3.1–4.6 million as a supermarket and €7.3–10.8 million as a large supermarket. On top of the price, the buyer pays a further 4.5–11% for real estate transfer tax, the notary, the land register and, if so agreed, the broker.
Rent and asset class set the price, not the building's cost
The German market values a store as a stream of rent: the price equals annual net rent times a price multiple (Kaufpreisfaktor), or the same rent divided by the gross yield. The multiple expresses the asset class. In 2025 BNP Paribas Real Estate valued the best supermarkets and discounters at 18.5 times annual rent, core-plus assets at 15.5 and value-add assets at 12.5. It considered it likely that the multiples would not change in 2026. A core-plus asset lacks at least one attribute of the best: a long remaining lease term, a strong location or a first-tier tenant (see Part 12 of the series German Prime Retail).
Average area and average rent come from different sources. BNP gives the average rental area of each format; Hahn Group, from a sample of more than 700 food stores, gives the average rent: €12.23 per m² a month. Format explains only 2% of the differences in rent, location category 20% and year of construction 10%.
Exhibit 1. An average discounter costs €2.3–3.4 million, a supermarket €3.1–4.6 million, a large supermarket €7.3–10.8 million
Sources: BNP Paribas Real Estate — average rental area and multiples (2025); Hahn Group — average rent (2026); prices — our calculation, rounded.
The calculation squares with published deals. In portfolios sold in 2023–2026, the average price per property ranged from €3.2 million to €7.5 million: the 76 stores ALDI Süd bought back from Pimco cost €240 million, and 16 Lidl stores €120 million. In the Powerfood portfolio of 37 stores and retail parks, the average price was about €5.4 million (BNP Paribas Real Estate, Cushman & Wakefield; averages are our calculation).
Divide the rent by 5% and you overpay by about 8%
A common mistake is to plug BNP's 5.00% benchmark for Q3 2026 into the formula. That figure is a net initial yield: the yield after non-recoverable costs and acquisition costs. Rent divided by 5% gives 20 times annual rent, above the market ceiling of 18.5. For the average supermarket in Exhibit 1, that means €4.97 million instead of €4.60 million: an overpayment of about €370,000, or 8% (our calculation).
The price also reacts to the yield itself. The rise in prime supermarket yields from 4.90% at the end of 2025 to 5.00% cuts the value by 2% at unchanged rent, and BNP considers a further rise possible by the end of the year.
Location weighs more than format. In the largest cities food stores pay an average of €16.82 per m² a month, in small towns and rural areas €11.28. At the same multiple, a city store of the same size therefore costs one and a half times as much (our calculation based on Hahn Group data).
Acquisition costs are a separate line. Real estate transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) ranges from 3.5% of the price in Bavaria to 6.5% in four federal states. In the example in our series, the notary, the land register, the broker and due diligence take the total to 9.4% (Part 11).
Implications for investors
1. Price the store off the rent in force under the lease. Multiply annual net rent by the multiple for its asset class: 18.5 is the ceiling for the best supermarkets and discounters, 15.5 the benchmark for core-plus.
2. Do not divide the rent by 5%. BNP's 5.00% benchmark is a net yield; plugged straight into the formula, it inflates the price of an average supermarket by about 8%.
3. Add acquisition costs to the price. Tax, notary, land register and broker add 4.5–11% of the price — 9.4% in the example in our series.
What to check:
• the net rent in force and the rental area under the lease, with the rent converted into euros per m² a month;
• the multiple the seller asks, against BNP's benchmark for the asset class: 18.5, 15.5 or 12.5;
• which yield the seller quotes — gross or net — and on what rent it is calculated;
• the rent per m² against the average for the format and the type of location;
• the transfer tax rate in the property's federal state, and who pays the broker.
See also: What yield does a supermarket in Germany deliver?; Price and yield: a table of multiples; How much does it cost to buy commercial property in Germany?
Sources: BNP Paribas Real Estate, German food-retail investment market report for Q4 2025 (rental areas, multiples, portfolio deals) and retail investment market report for Q3 2026; Hahn Group, Retail Real Estate Report 2026/2027 (as reported by LEBENSMITTEL PRAXIS, 3 September 2026); Cushman & Wakefield, MarketBeat Einzelhandel Investment Deutschland, Q2 2026 (Powerfood portfolio); state laws on real estate transfer tax rates; Gordon Real Estate Group calculations; the series German Prime Retail, Parts 11 and 12.
Photo: Jan-Philipp Thiele / Unsplash
This page is general information and not investment, legal or tax advice.