Bavarian municipalities sell property to plug budget gaps

Bavarian municipalities are selling increasing amounts of land and property to shore up strained budgets, BR reports, as Munich considers selling a castle that generates an annual profit.

Kempfenhausen Castle, a 16th-century property in Berg on Lake Starnberg, belongs to the city of Munich. It includes a chapel and extensive grounds and is rented out for training events, weddings and conferences, bringing in about 100,000 euros a year.

The Munich branch of the Free Democratic Party has proposed selling the castle. Local estate agent Errit Schlossberger estimates it could fetch at least 10 million euros, and says potential buyers could come from around the world. Interest from the United Arab Emirates remains high, he said.

FDP city councillor Jörg Hoffmann argues a sale could save the city around 500,000 euros a year in interest payments. He questioned why the city should keep the property while closing youth centres because of budget pressures.

The Social Democrats have so far responded cautiously. The Greens say each sale of municipal land or property needs careful consideration. Assets that benefit Munich residents should remain in public hands, said Sebastian Weisenburger of the party’s city council group, while properties not needed for public services could be considered for sale. The city council is due to decide on the castle at a future meeting.

Across Bavaria, municipalities are increasingly selling assets, particularly land and property, according to figures from the Bavarian State Office for Statistics. Together, the state’s cities and municipalities raised 815 million euros from such sales in 2024 and about one billion euros last year, an increase of roughly 25 percent.

The trend continued in the first half of 2026. Revenue from asset sales rose 40 percent compared with the same period in 2025, from 436 million to 617 million euros. Georg Grosse-Verspohl of the Bavarian Association of Municipalities said local authorities were selling substantially more assets than in the past as they tried to balance their budgets. But the proceeds remain far below their financial shortfalls: last year’s one billion euros in property-sale revenue compared with a combined budget deficit of 4.5 billion euros.

Sandra Wagner-Endres of the German Institute of Urban Affairs cautioned against selling municipal assets out of financial necessity. Each property should be assessed for its importance to current and future urban development, she said, warning that a sale also gives up long-term options for shaping a city.

BR first published this article on November 9, 2026, and republished it because the issue remains current.