Property is a very conservative and therefore comparatively very safe investment. Good tangible assets offset inflation and ensure decent wealth growth in the long term. Moreover, property makes sense as an investment because you buy the property, but the tenant and the tax office pay large parts of it for you. We call this passive income or property income. Furthermore, Germany in particular is a fantastic market for landlords. You can write off the property for tax purposes, meaning large parts of your rental income are tax-free; as a landlord you can also deduct the loan interest and costs associated with the property for tax purposes; and as a non-commercial property buyer, you can sell a property tax-free after 10 years. In other words, you pocket the capital appreciation and property gains completely tax-free.
And given that we have more than 40,000,000 tenants in Germany – meaning that more than 50% of the population are tenants – it is a paradise for landlords. Given the large number of tenants, it has been a problem for years that far too few flats are being built, leading to an ever-increasing housing shortage in sought-after regions and larger cities. That is why landlords are also doing something good for the wider community, because as a landlord you are providing valuable housing and are therefore supported through tax breaks, allowances and subsidies.
Real estate as an investment is very flexible in this respect, because you can sell the property again or later pass it on to children or other heirs.
English (UK) 
Deutsch