Once you have received the official confirmation of admission from Freie Universität Berlin, you will need to find an apartment. Unfortunately, finding an apartment in Berlin has become much more difficult in the last two years. At the beginning of each semester, there is usually a great demand for apartments and rooms. We therefore urge you to find accommodation as soon as possible!

Since the FU campus is located in one of the most expensive, but also really quiet areas of Berlin, students usually choose to live either in a cheaper or a more lively place. We therefore recommend that students try to find accommodation close to the U3, U7, U9 or the Ringbahn (S 41/42) in order to have a good connection to the university. Please note that the distances in Berlin are quite long and the further you live from the university, the more time it will take to get there at 8am.

In general, the following accommodation options are available to you:

Student Residences

The Studierendenwerk Berlin as well as the privately owned Studentendorf Schlachtensee offer a limited number of student dormitories. Generally, the rooms are in shared apartments (WGs), which means that you have your own room but share all common areas, including kitchen and bathroom, with other students living in the same apartment. The minimum rental period is one semester.

If you would like to apply for the residence halls, please do so as soon as possible. PLEASE READ THE GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY!

Please note that only a limited number of rooms are available. If you have chosen this option, we urge you to apply as soon as possible. Once all rooms are booked, you will have to look for private accommodation individually.

Private Accommodations

If you would like to organize your accommodation individually, you can consult the information on housing options provided by Studierendenwerks Berlin and  unsere our list of website for finding accommodation, dormitories and hotels. The Welcome Center Berlin offers general information on finding housing as well as further addresses.

Many studients in Berlin live in shared apartments (WGs), and the offer of rooms is relatively large. You can find these offers on the internet (e.g. studenten-wg.de or wg-gesucht.de), in various Berlin magazines, or on bulletin boards at the university. The Freie Universität Berlin is located in Dahlem, a residential area with many large houses. Rooms/apartments around the university are therefore rare and usually expensive. For this reason, students usually commute from other parts of the city, with commute ties of up to an hour not uncommon.

The rent for a small apartement starts at about 500-600 €. Shared apartments are usually cheaper. When you sign the lease, your landlord will probably expect a deposit of about three month's rent, which will be returned with interest at the end of the lease as long as nothing has been damaged. Sometimes you will have to pay a commission or a fee for furniture.

Short-term Accommodation

In case you arrive in Berlin without an apartment or room, there are some cheap short-term accommodation options such as youth hostels, backpacking hostels or guesthouses (Jugendgästehaus). On this list we have compiled some addresses.

Watch out for Scams!

Recently, there has been an increase in fraudulent offers on popular websites to find accmmodation in Berlin. Scammers post enticing ads for beautiful, spacious apartments at a surprisingly low rent. When contacted, they respond with sometimes heartbreaking stories about why the apartment needs to be rented right now and at such a low price. Most of time they claim to be abroad. Therefore, they are not able to show the apartment or arrange a meeting, but they can send the key by mail. For this, the scammer asks or an advance payment, sometimes disguised as a trust or escrow account. This way, the money cannot be withdrawn if the scam is discovered. It is definitely not normal to pay anything before signing a contract or at least viewing the apartment together with the landlord or a representative!