Skip to content
Reuse radar

Munich

Munich is the only one of the five radar cities with an agency whose job is turning empty offices into homes, and it wants five pilot projects running by the end of 2026. Office vacancy stands at about 1.86 million m², more than half of it older stock outside the city centre. The public buildings that stand empty mostly belong to the city or the Freistaat and are heading for sale or demolition.
An empty building in Munich with homes, balconies and neighbours drawn onto it in ink
Empty buildings on record
333
and 28 more with an empty shop, flat or floor
Vacant office space
1.86 million m²
8% of the stock
Homes potential
≈ 4,252
if 30% of empty offices converted

Office figures: BNP Paribas Real Estate, 30 June 2026 (market area as BNP defines it, including the surrounding region); older stock = total vacancy minus BNP’s "modern" vacancy. Homes: our economic model’s conversion engine. Map built 2026-10-09.

In 3D, from today’s sources — a potential we spotted, not a plan.

Empty buildings in Munich

One point per building, from public records, open data and cited reports. Filter by type, size and how sure the evidence is; open one to see who says so and whether it could become homes.

Bavaria’s open 3D building data does not identify offices: in the city-centre tile 52% of buildings have no specified function and no office code appears, so office stock comes from OpenStreetMap.

Loading map…
Colour = type of building named officially likely reported
Missing a building?

Check any building in Munich: could it become homes, and could the EHC model work there?

8 more buildings in Munich reported in the news, not yet on the map

The articles do not give an address we could place, so these have no pin yet. From news reports, summed up in our own words with a link to each article — not checked on site by EHC.

  • Former Bogner company headquarters site, St.-Veit-Straße, Daglfing — reported conversion planned · formerly office · Company-owned264 owner-occupied and rented flats, a supermarket and a nursery are planned on the former fashion company's headquarters site. Abendzeitung München (2026-01-28)
  • Former Postbank building next to the Isarpost, Isarpost, Altstadt — reported demolition planned · formerly bank · Company-ownedThe almost 80-year-old Postbank building beside the historic Isarpost is to be demolished for an investor's new build. Abendzeitung München (2025-01-01)
  • Former Prachtbau near Sendlinger Tor — reported empty · owner: Deutsches Beratungs-Center für Vermögen und Finanzen GmbHThe building has stood empty since 2019; crowdfunding is intended to fund its renovation Münchner Merkur (München) (2026-02-16)
  • Former record-high-rise — reported empty · formerly office · owner: EmpiraUnused since 2006, the high-rise is proposed for conversion to a hotel and boarding house Münchner Merkur (München) (2026-01-20)
  • Kaut-Bullinger-Haus — reported emptyReported among vacant Benko properties tz (2024-02-06)
  • Old office building in the Bahnhofsviertel, Bahnhofsviertel, Ludwigsvorstadt — reported conversion under way · formerly officeAn old office building near the main station is being redeveloped instead of demolished; uses not stated in the teaser. Abendzeitung München (2026-01-12)
  • Rindermarktstraße 7 office building, Rindermarktstraße 7 — reported empty · formerly officeA vacant office building is marked on a map of unused spaces Münchner Merkur (München) (2025-09-17)
  • Viehhofbank, near the Volkstheater, Schlachthofviertel — reported empty · formerly bank · owner: Landeshauptstadt München (Kommunalreferat)The listed city-owned building has needed refurbishment since the 1990s and most tenants left long ago; a sale is now possible. Abendzeitung München (2026-09-15)

Where conversion makes sense, and who to talk to

The districts where empty space, the right zoning and a working neighbourhood come together, and the owners and programmes that open a door. 1.86 million m² of offices stand empty (8% of the stock), 1.05 million m² of it older stock — the realistic pool for conversion.

A hand outlining a neighbourhood on a city map, with small houses drawn inside

Neuperlach

The largest pipeline of office transformations in Munich, on 1970s–80s office stock with high achievable rents.

  • Fritz District: two office complexes on Fritz-Schäffer-Straße becoming a mixed quarter with about 325 flats
  • Otto-Hahn-Ring: the former Siemens staff car park, 7.2 ha, for about 750 homes
  • Achievable peak office rent €21.00/m² (Knight Frank, Q4 2025)

Risk: Private developers aim at owner-occupied flats, and one of them (Pandion, with 133 condominiums at Alexisquartier) is now insolvent.

4 sources

Berg am Laim

Home to the Ten Towers, the city’s showcase for its "Büro zu Wohnen" strategy.

  • Ten Towers: about 69,060 m², largely empty since Telekom left in 2022 (owner Wealthcap)
  • A council amendment proposes about 40% of the converted space for apprentices
  • BImA marked a federal office site on Neumarkter Straße "sell" (2023 list)

Risk: The towers are privately owned and date from 2002–05, younger than the stock the research rates as the best fit for a cooperative.

4 sources

Obersendling (Stadtgebiet Süd–Südwest)

The highest submarket vacancy in Munich and a large pipeline of new office space still looking for tenants.

  • Stadtgebiet Süd–Südwest office vacancy 13.6% at mid-2026 (Cushman & Wakefield)
  • The city’s own offer layer lists Sugar Valley (Boschetsrieder Straße 129) and Tölzer Straße 40 at 160,000 m² each
  • Pandion’s Isarbelle project here (16 storeys, 68 flats) is in insolvency

Risk: The evidence is supply-side: it shows offices on offer, not buildings standing empty.

3 sources

Maxvorstadt and Altstadt — state and city buildings

Central buildings owned by the city, the Freistaat or church bodies that stand empty while their future is decided.

  • Former Gesundheitshaus, Dachauer Straße 90: almost 9,000 m², empty since 2016, demolition planned in the medium term
  • Karlstraße 20 and 22: Freistaat buildings empty for years, 25 staff flats planned by Stadibau
  • Klinik des Diakoniewerks München-Maxvorstadt (87 beds) closed on 1 January 2025

Risk: Most are heading for demolition, sale or transfer to state staff housing, and the city declines to list its empty buildings.

4 sources

Signals to watch

Decisions, auctions and closures that change what becomes available, and when.

  1. 2026-08-20Knorr-Bremse-Areal plan in force

    B-Plan 2142 for about 620 homes on 12.8 ha, 30% subsidised plus 10% price-dampened; construction expected from 2027.

    1 source
  2. 2026-08-10Pandion files for insolvency

    Its Munich projects include Alexisquartier in Neuperlach (133 condominiums) and Isarbelle in Obersendling (68 flats).

    2 sources
  3. 2026-08-01Demolition permit under housing protection dropped

    Munich approved the demolition of 1,018 homes in 2025; its new housing-protection by-law drops the separate demolition permit under certain conditions, narrowing that early warning.

    1 source
3 earlier signals
  1. 2026-07-22
    Galeria Rotkreuzplatz under review

    The Rotkreuzplatz store is among 33 Galeria is reviewing, with further closures planned.

    1 source
  2. 2026-07-13
    Umbauagentur "Büro zu Wohnen" proposed

    An agency with 12 posts that approaches owners of empty offices was proposed in the city council, with five pilot projects due in 2026.

    2 sources
  3. 2026-01-27
    City declines to list its empty buildings

    The Kommunalreferat answered a councillor only in general terms; half its property-manager posts are unfilled and the next commercial vacancy report is due in the second half of 2026.

    1 source

Sources, and what we cannot see

27 sources connected, 1 waiting for access. We only use data we may lawfully reuse; where a publisher blocks automated access we do not work around it — a person downloads it, or we ask for permission.

Every source, its licence and when we last read it
SourceAccessRecordsStatusLicence
Federal property for sale (BImA)
Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben (BImA)
Live sales of federal buildings and land (the open API behind the BImA property search; rentals, garages and parking left out). A disposal is an open route in; it does not say the building stands empty.
Open API0Live
2026-10-09
No licence stated — public sale offers, credited to the BImA
Current vacancies (city GeoServer)
Landeshauptstadt München, Referat für Arbeit und Wirtschaft
Open API15Live
2026-10-09
Datenlizenz Deutschland – Namensnennung 2.0
Office and commercial space on offer (city economic department)
Landeshauptstadt München, Referat für Arbeit und Wirtschaft
Mostly leases in projects — a forward sign of oversupply, not a list of empty buildings.
Open API97Live
2026-10-09
Datenlizenz Deutschland – Namensnennung 2.0
Forced auctions of commercial property (zvg-portal)
Justizportal des Bundes und der Länder
Non-residential objects only; shown until the hearing date. Hamburg courts do not publish here.
Open API3Live
2026-10-09
Official public notice (§ 39 ZVG)
OpenStreetMap disused/abandoned tags and brownfields
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API267Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Rail, S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations (OpenStreetMap)
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Building heights: GlobalBuildingAtlas (TU Munich)
Zhu, X. X., Chen, S., Zhang, F., Shi, Y., Wang, Y. (2025), Technical University of Munich
GlobalBuildingAtlas: an open global and complete dataset of building polygons, heights and LoD1 3D models. Earth System Science Data 17(12), 6647–6668, doi:10.5194/essd-17-6647-2025. Read from the Parquet copy on Source Cooperative. Satellite-derived heights (typically 1.5–3 m error in Europe), turned into storeys with storey heights fitted on Berlin; used only where no register or official 3D model sizes the building.
Open download16 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-09
CC BY-NC 4.0 (heights); footprints from OpenStreetMap and Microsoft: ODbL
Storeys and heights: 3D building models LoD2 (Bavaria)
Bayerische Vermessungsverwaltung
Datenquelle: Bayerische Vermessungsverwaltung – www.geodaten.bayern.de. Recorded storeys where the model carries them, else the eaves height above ground (lowest eaves − ground).
Open download297 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0
Road noise (EU Environmental Noise Directive, Lden)
European Environment Agency
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
EEA standard re-use policy (attribution)
Leerstandsmelder.de — public reports of empty buildings
Leerstandsmelder (Gängeviertel e.V., Hamburg)
Shown while we ask Leerstandsmelder for permission. Reports since 2016 only, with the address, the month reported and a link to each entry; not checked by EHC. Each point says when a report has since been marked demolished, lived in, in interim use or rebuilt on Leerstandsmelder, and the owner type the reporter gave (private owners are never named).
Asking for permission133Live
2026-10-09
Credited to Leerstandsmelder.de; asking for permission
Open-ended property funds: buildings they report partly empty
Open-ended real-estate funds (each point names its fund and report)
German and Austrian open-ended public property funds must list every property with its vacancy (or letting) rate in their annual and half-year reports. scripts/reuse/import-fund-reports.ts reads those lists; properties at 10 % vacancy or more are shown, those at 25 % or more count as evidence.
Open download17Live
2026-10-09
Published fund report (KAGB / KARBV property list), cited per point
Co-working spaces, department stores, banks, hotels and cinemas listed as permanently closed
Overture Maps Foundation (closure data: BrightQuery company records)
Places with operating_status "permanently_closed" in the monthly Overture release, read by scripts/reuse/import-overture-closures.ts and matched to the building they sit in. A closed business is usually one unit; names are shown only for companies, never for sole traders.
Open download120Live
2026-10-09
CDLA Permissive 2.0 (Overture Maps Foundation)
Land without current use and stalled construction, mapped from satellite imagery (Copernicus Urban Atlas 2006–2018)
European Environment Agency — Copernicus Land Monitoring Service
Urban Atlas class 13400 (brownfields, demolition sites and gaps in the built-up area, 0.25 ha and up) compared across the 2006, 2012 and 2018 editions, so each plot says how long it has stood unused; plus construction sites (13300) already under way in 2012, and 2012 construction sites left unused by 2018. Read from the EEA's open ArcGIS services, the same way in every radar city. The 2021 edition (Copernicus Data Space) drops plots built on since 2018 where scripts/reuse/import-urban-atlas-2021.ts has been run. Points are context, never evidence of vacancy.
Open API143Live
2026-10-09
Copernicus open data (© European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2006–2021, EEA)
Property companies in insolvency, at the property their purpose names
Insolvency courts (Insolvenzbekanntmachungen), structured by OpenRegister
Companies in preliminary or opened insolvency proceedings whose registered business purpose speaks of land or buildings (scripts/reuse/import-insolvencies.ts, OpenRegister API — the portal itself disallows automated access, so it is never fetched). A company is placed at the street its purpose names; the rest are leads in the admin. An insolvent owner signals a possible sale, not vacancy: weak evidence.
Open API1Live
2026-10-09
Official notices (§ 5 UrhG, source credited), via the OpenRegister API
Stalled construction and buildings held by insolvent developers
EHC research (dated press and court sources per point)
Signa, Adler/Consus and other developer insolvencies since 2022 and stalled sites, each with its latest dated status (src/scripts/data/reuse/stalled-projects.json; news leads from scripts/reuse/mine-news.ts are reviewed before they join).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Church buildings the dioceses and regional churches plan to give up
Catholic dioceses and Protestant regional churches (their building plans), via EHC research
Buildings a church body’s published building plan or recent reporting names as to be given up, without church funding, for sale or lease, or profaned (src/scripts/data/reuse/church-plans.json and brussels-churches.json).
EHC research5Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Named buildings and sites from EHC research (each with its own source)
European Housing Coop research
Includes the library’s public lighthouse conversions (src/scripts/data/reuse/lighthouses.json), shown under "Already converting" with a link to their library page.
EHC research29Live
2026-10-09
Facts cited to their publishers
Commercial listings (ImmoScout24 / immowelt)
Scout24 / AVIV
Blocked to automated access; we do not work around that. Request drafted in docs/reuse-radar/outreach/.
Asking for permission0PendingProprietary — API or data partnership requested
Year built and listing: OpenStreetMap building tags
OpenStreetMap contributors
start_date / construction_date and heritage / listed_status of the OpenStreetMap outline a record is matched to, where no register answers. Read with the outline match, not a separate query.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Empty properties of the Free State of Bavaria (Landtag answer, Apr 2024)
Bayerischer Landtag — answer of the Staatsministerium für Wohnen, Bau und Verkehr (Drs. 19/1448)
Open download27Live
2026-10-09
Official document (§ 5 UrhG, no copyright); credit "Bayerischer Landtag, Drs. 19/1448". Located with OpenStreetMap (Photon/Nominatim, ODbL).
Homes and mixed buildings named empty in Munich council papers (Stadtrat, since 2014)
Landeshauptstadt München — council papers via München Transparent (OParl mirror of the RIS)
Open API24Live
2026-10-09
Official documents (§ 5 UrhG, no copyright); credit "Landeshauptstadt München, <paper reference>"; mirror by München Transparent. No open-data licence stated. Located with OpenStreetMap (Photon/Nominatim, ODbL).
Public buildings named empty in Munich council papers (Stadtrat, since 2014)
Landeshauptstadt München — council papers via München Transparent (OParl mirror of the RIS)
Open API2Live
2026-10-09
Official documents (§ 5 UrhG, no copyright); credit "Landeshauptstadt München, <paper reference>"; mirror by München Transparent. No open-data licence stated. Located with OpenStreetMap (Photon/Nominatim, ODbL).
Homes councillors name empty in questions the city has not (yet) answered in the council system (since 2014)
Landeshauptstadt München — council papers via München Transparent (OParl mirror of the RIS)
Open API19Live
2026-10-09
Official documents (§ 5 UrhG, no copyright); credit "Landeshauptstadt München, <paper reference>"; mirror by München Transparent. No open-data licence stated. Located with OpenStreetMap (Photon/Nominatim, ODbL).
Unused city commercial space (Kommunalreferat report, 30 Jun 2024)
Landeshauptstadt München, Kommunalreferat (Immobilienmanagement) — report to the Kommunalausschuss, Sitzungsvorlage 20-26 / V 14939, annex "Übersicht der verfügbaren gewerblichen Flächen"
Open download13Live
2026-10-09
Official document (§ 5 UrhG, no copyright); credit "Landeshauptstadt München, Kommunalreferat"; mirror by München Transparent. Located with OpenStreetMap (Photon, ODbL).
Buildings named in the news (each with its article)
Local and national press, read by EHC
Buildings the news reports empty, for sale or to let, to be demolished or being converted (src/scripts/data/reuse/news-building-leads.json; rules in src/lib/reuse/news-layer.ts). A report that names a building already on the map is shown on its card instead of a second point; one an open source contradicted, or that says the building is in use, is left out. Not checked on site.
EHC research26Live
2026-10-14
Facts with a link to the article; the one-line summary is ours — no article text is republished
Era of the buildings around it: Zensus 2022 (100 m grid)
Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis), Zensus 2022
Buildings with living space by decade of construction in the record’s 100 m grid cell — not the building itself, which may well be an office. An era is given only when at least 60% of the cell’s buildings fall within 30 years; counts are perturbed for confidentiality (Cell-Key Method).
Open downloadscoringLive
2026-10-14
Datenlizenz Deutschland – Namensnennung 2.0
Era of the buildings around it: Zensus 2022 (3 × 3 grid cells)
Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis), Zensus 2022
As the 100 m figure, over the nine cells around the record, where its own cell counts fewer than five buildings with homes.
Open downloadscoringLive
2026-10-14
Datenlizenz Deutschland – Namensnennung 2.0
Probable era: estimated from a street photo (Panoramax, Mapillary, Google Street View)
Panoramax and Mapillary contributors; Google Street View (research use agreed with Google, 14 Oct 2026); estimate by EHC with a vision model
Where no register dates a building: its era read from a Panoramax or Mapillary photo looking at it — Google Street View only where no open photo answers (scripts/reuse/estimate-photo-eras.ts), only when the building is clearly visible and the model is confident, and only as “before 1945” or “1945 or later” — the split it got right for 89% of buildings with a register year in Amsterdam and Paris, and 89% from Street View pictures alone (photo-eras/calibration.json). An estimate: a sentence in the conversion check, never points.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-14
Open photos CC BY-SA 4.0 or Licence Ouverte 2.0 (per picture); Street View read for research only, never stored or shown; only the estimated era is published, never a photo

What this radar cannot see yet

  • Bavaria’s open 3D building data does not identify offices: in the city-centre tile 52% of buildings have no specified function and no office code appears, so office stock comes from OpenStreetMap.
  • Land values are not open in Bavaria, so the radar cannot show the gap between residential and office land value here.
  • The city keeps no public list of its empty buildings, and its contamination register is open only to owners and people they authorise.
  • Leerstandsmelder reports are public reports, not checked by EHC, and carry no end date — the map shows those made since 2016, each linked to its entry on leerstandsmelder.de.

Know an empty building we have missed?

Open data cannot see everything. Tell us about a building in Munich that stands empty or barely used; once we have checked it, it joins the map under “Reported by visitors (checked)”.

A phone held up to photograph an empty shopfront, with a map pin drawn above it

We publish the address, the kind of building and your description once we have checked it — never your email. Please do not name the people who own or live in a building.

Radars nearby

The other radars in the same country and the nearest beyond. All 134 cities in the atlas

The figure on each card: empty buildings on record.