Grundsteuer 2026: A Court Ruling Raised Duisburg Bills by 32%

Homeowners in Duisburg are paying 32% more Grundsteuer this year than last. The trigger was a court case about how the city taxed everybody else.

Duisburg council voted on 24 February 2026 to abandon its split Grundsteuer B rates and apply a single multiplier of 1,169%. That lifts the rate on residential property from 886% and cuts it on non residential property from 1,469%, leaving both at the same figure for the first time since the reform.

Duisburg Grundsteuer B multiplier (Hebesatz)

Property type and year	Hebesatz (%)
Residential 2025		886%
Residential 2026		1,169%
Non residential 2025		1,469%
Non residential 2026		1,169%

What is a Hebesatz, and why does it differ by city?

Grundsteuer is the annual German property tax the owner pays, and the Hebesatz is the percentage multiplier each municipality applies to work out the final bill. Two identical houses in two towns can therefore carry very different annual charges, because the last step of the calculation is a local decision.

The City of Duisburg sets out how it got here. To implement the Grundsteuer reform from 1 January 2025, following a decision of the Federal Constitutional Court, the state government of North Rhine Westphalia opted for the so called Bundesmodell, the federal model. Reacting to the extra burden that placed on residential property, the state then created an option for municipalities to set different Hebesätze for residential and non residential property, known as Hebesatzdifferenzierung.

Duisburg says municipalities were critical of that route from the start because of the considerable legal uncertainty, and that the city had pressed the state for a different model in which the extra residential burden is neutralised in the Grundsteuer law itself, as some other federal states did. The state did not pursue it. At the end of 2024 the council decided to use the split rates anyway, in order to relieve owners of residential property.

Why did Duisburg reverse itself?

Two courts and a budget hole. Duisburg states that both the Verwaltungsgericht Gelsenkirchen and the Verwaltungsgericht Düsseldorf, the administrative court with jurisdiction over Duisburg, have quashed Grundsteuer assessments based on differentiated rates, though on different reasoning. Neither decision is final, appeals have in part been lodged, and the city says a ruling from the highest court could still take several years.

The exposure is what forced the decision. Since partial invalidity of the city's tax bylaw cannot be ruled out, for the non residential rate and the residential rate alike, Duisburg says it faces an annual budget risk of up to 140 million euro. It adds that the state's recommended rates, which the city had followed, undershot the intended revenue neutral implementation of the reform, leaving the 2025 Grundsteuer result about 11.5 million euro down.

On the city's own figures, a uniform Hebesatz of 1,169% is what is required to secure its planned and necessary revenue, and it states that no increase in planned Grundsteuer income is associated with the change.

Who won and who lost in the vote?

Residential owners lost, businesses gained, and the council split on it. Radio Duisburg reported the day after the vote that the residential multiplier rises 32%, from 886% to 1,169%, while the rate for non residential property falls 20.4%, from 1,469% to 1,169%. It notes that tenants may feel the increase through service charges.

The station reports that SPD, CDU and Junges Duisburg backed the proposal from city treasurer Martin Murrack, while AfD, Grüne, Linke, FDP and BSW voted against and the Tierschutz, DAL and WGD group abstained. Alexander Kranki, chair of the business association Wirtschaft für Duisburg, is quoted welcoming the relief for companies while warning that reliability, predictability and legal certainty are central conditions for firms and private households alike.

Could it change back?

The city says yes, and leaves the door open in writing. If a final court decision later establishes that different rates for residential and non residential property are lawful, Duisburg states the council has the option of deciding to return to Hebesatz differentiation for the future. For 2026 the published rates are 329% for Grundsteuer A and 1,169% for Grundsteuer B.

What this changes for a buyer

Annual holding cost in Germany is set at municipal level and is still being reshaped by litigation, so the number attached to a specific address is the only one worth budgeting. Duisburg is one city among many, and its swing in both directions in two years is the point rather than the exception. The equivalent question in the Netherlands is a purchase tax rather than an annual one, and we covered it in the Dutch transfer tax cut for 2026.

We do not give buying or selling advice, and nothing here is a view on Duisburg or on German property. What the sources support is specific: the council decided on 24 February 2026, the 2026 Grundsteuer B multiplier is 1,169% for both categories, the underlying court decisions are not final, and the city puts its annual exposure at up to 140 million euro. AiMYNDi reads the listing, the financials and the legal paperwork for a specific property so the running costs are visible alongside the price. You can see an example of what a report looks like first.