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Living in Dortmund

Searching for the Right Place to Live

The notice of admission has arrived, you have completed registration – now all that’s lacking is a suitable place to live. Whether dormitory, shared flat or your own apartment: here you will find information about the Dortmund housing market and an overview of contact points for a successful apartment search.

A woman sits cross-legged on a desk with a laptop on her lap. © halfpoint​/​stock.adobe.com

Around 600,000 inhabitants make Dortmund a vibrant metropolis in the middle of the Ruhr area, where more than 55,000 young people study – more than in the student city of Heidelberg, for example. While rents in many university cities such as Cologne and Münster have risen dramatically in recent years, living space in Dortmund is still affordable, and the study location is therefore attractive for many students.

Rents for Student Apartments in Germany's Ten Largest Cities

1 Leipzig €260
2 Dortmund €300
2 Essen €300
4 Düsseldorf €420
5 Hamburg €450
6 Cologne €480
7 Frankfurt €500
7 Berlin €500
9 Stuttgart €540
10 Munich €770

Source: Immowelt (German only)

Student Dormitories

Places in student dormitories are particularly popular: The Studierendenwerk Dortmund allocates over 2,400 places in ten residential complexes in Dortmund and four residential complexes in the region  –  from single rooms to four-person shared flats. Since the demand is very high, an early application is recommended. In addition, the Studierendenwerk Dortmund offers barrier-free accommodation for people with disabilities and guest apartments for university lecturers who are in Dortmund for a short-term stay.

The Studierendenwerk offers further information on the subject of housing and the individual residential complexes.

Living in Dortmund

If you are unable to find a place in a dormitory, you can look for rooms in shared flats or apartments on real estate platforms and housing exchanges on the Internet, as well as in daily newspapers. For example, the Klinikviertel and Kreuzviertel neighborhoods in the south as well as the Kaiserviertel district in the eastern part of the city are popular with students. In the less expensive north, many apartments have been renovated to make them suitable for shared flats, and the neighborhood is characterized by a lively cultural scene, urban pubs and interculturality. The centrally located Unionviertel district around Westpark is also popular. Barop and Hombruch are rather close to the university, with good connections to the city center and their own infrastructure. Most student dormitories are also located near the university.

The City of Dortmund has compiled tips for finding student accommodation (in German only).