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- Tightened opening sentence and intro paragraph - Added Munich/Leipzig rent gap qualifier (across comparable market tiers) - Added bridging transition before Commercial Rent section - Improved Court Hire Rates section opener for better flow - Added OPEX note: rent line is mid-tier city calibrated; adjust for Munich/Berlin - Expanded lender section intro with insider framing - Sharpened lease signal sentence (converts uncertain future revenue...) - Fixed cashflow to cash flow - Strengthened Bottom Line and CTA Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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title, slug, language, url_path, meta_description, cornerstone
| title | slug | language | url_path | meta_description | cornerstone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How Much Does It Cost to Open a Padel Hall in Germany? Complete 2026 CAPEX Breakdown | padel-hall-cost-guide | en | /padel-hall-cost-guide | Real cost data for opening a padel hall in Germany in 2026. Full CAPEX breakdown €930K–€1.9M, city-by-city pricing, operating costs, and ROI model. | C2 |
How Much Does It Cost to Open a Padel Hall in Germany? Complete 2026 CAPEX Breakdown
Anyone researching padel hall investment in Germany hits the same frustrating non-answer: "it depends." And it genuinely does — total project costs for a six-court indoor facility range from €930,000 to €1.9 million, a span wide enough to make planning feel impossible.
But that range is not noise. It reflects specific, quantifiable decisions: whether you're fitting out an existing warehouse or building from scratch, whether you're in Munich or Leipzig, whether you want panorama glass courts or standard construction. Once you understand where the variance lives, the numbers become plannable.
This article gives you the complete picture: itemized CAPEX, city-by-city rent and booking rates, a full operating cost breakdown, a three-year P&L projection, and the key metrics your bank will want to see. All figures are based on real German market data from 2025–2026. By the end, you'll have everything you need to build a credible first-pass financial model for your specific scenario — and walk into a lender conversation with confidence.
Why the Cost Range Is So Wide
The single largest driver of CAPEX variance is construction. Converting a suitable existing warehouse — one that already has the necessary ceiling height (8–9 m clear) and adequate structural load — costs vastly less than a ground-up build or a complete gut-renovation. This line item alone accounts for €400,000 to €800,000 of the total budget.
Location adds another layer of variance. The same 2,000 sqm hall costs 40–60% more to rent in Munich than in Leipzig across comparable market tiers — at the extremes, the gap is considerably wider. That difference runs through every budget line: not just annual rent, but the lease deposit and working capital reserve needed at launch, both part of your initial CAPEX.
For a six-court indoor facility with solid but not extravagant fit-out, the realistic planning figure is €1.2–1.5 million all-in. Projects that come in below that typically either benefited from an exceptional real estate deal or — more often — undercounted one of the three most expensive items: construction, HVAC, and the operating reserve.
Complete CAPEX Breakdown: Six Courts, Germany 2026
| Item | Range |
|---|---|
| Building lease deposit or land | €50,000–€200,000 |
| Construction / conversion | €400,000–€800,000 |
| 6 padel courts (installed) | €180,000–€300,000 |
| Lighting (LED, 500 lux per court) | €30,000–€60,000 |
| HVAC system | €50,000–€120,000 |
| Changing rooms, reception, lounge | €80,000–€150,000 |
| IT, booking system, access control | €15,000–€30,000 |
| Furniture, equipment, pro shop inventory | €20,000–€40,000 |
| Architect, permits, legal, consulting | €40,000–€80,000 |
| Pre-launch marketing | €15,000–€30,000 |
| Working capital reserve | €50,000–€100,000 |
| Total | €930,000–€1,910,000 |
Construction/conversion (€400k–€800k) is where projects go over budget most often. Before signing a lease, commission a structural assessment from a contractor experienced in sports hall conversions. A building that looks right on paper can carry hidden costs — drainage, load-bearing upgrades, fire egress — that flip a €500k construction budget to €750k.
The courts themselves (€30k–€50k each installed) vary primarily by glass specification. Full-panorama courts with all-glass back walls cost more than standard hybrid construction. On a six-court project, the difference between the low and high end is roughly €120k — real money, but roughly 8–10% of total project cost. Don't let court specification decisions distort the overall project budget.
HVAC (€50k–€120k) is consistently underestimated. A closed hall with six active courts and 60+ simultaneous players generates significant heat load and humidity. Under-speccing this system creates player complaints, structural moisture damage, and expensive remediation. Budget toward the upper end and treat it as a fixed cost of operating indoors — a well-designed system also reduces energy consumption over the full operating life.
Working capital reserve (€50k–€100k) is not optional. In months one through six, revenue runs well below steady-state while rent and payroll are already at full run rate. This reserve is the difference between a stressful launch and a controlled one.
Commercial Rent by German City
Construction and courts consume most of your initial budget. What determines long-term viability is what you pay every month: rent.
A six-court facility with changing rooms, a reception area, and a lounge requires 1,500–2,500 sqm of floor space. Current industrial/warehouse lease rates across major German cities:
| City | Rent €/sqm/month | Typical monthly cost (2,000 sqm) |
|---|---|---|
| Munich | €10–14 | €20,000–€28,000 |
| Berlin | €8–12 | €16,000–€24,000 |
| Frankfurt | €8–11 | €16,000–€22,000 |
| Düsseldorf | €8–11 | €16,000–€22,000 |
| Hamburg | €7–10 | €14,000–€20,000 |
| Stuttgart | €7–10 | €14,000–€20,000 |
| Cologne | €6–9 | €12,000–€18,000 |
| Leipzig | €4–7 | €8,000–€14,000 |
In the tightest urban submarkets — central Berlin, Munich's inner districts — even warehouse and light-industrial space increasingly commands premium rates. Locations 15–20 minutes outside the core city center offer meaningfully lower rents without sacrificing catchment, and are worth modelling explicitly.
One structural note: German commercial landlords typically require lease terms of 5–10 years for hall-scale premises. That creates long-term commitment, but it also gives lenders a bankable asset — a long lease with indexed rent escalation reads as revenue visibility, not risk, on a credit application.
Court Hire Rates: What the Market Will Bear
Revenue potential tracks location almost as closely as rent does. The following booking rates are drawn from platform data and direct market surveys:
| City | Off-Peak (€/hr) | Peak (€/hr) | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berlin | €33 | €46 | High |
| Munich | €30 | €42 | Estimated |
| Düsseldorf | €30 | €42 | Estimated |
| Hamburg | €26 | €36 | Medium |
| Stuttgart | €26 | €38 | Medium |
| Frankfurt | €24 | €28 | High |
| Cologne | €22 | €27 | High |
| Leipzig | €18 | €26 | Estimated |
The Playtomic Global Padel Report 2025 provides a useful market-level cross-check: Germany's average GMV per court grew 48% year-on-year to €4,000/month at approximately 30% utilization. That implies a blended effective rate of around €30/hour — consistent with the figures for mid-tier German cities at 30% fill rates.
For the revenue model in this article, we use a blended rate of €45/hour — a weighted average of off-peak and peak pricing for a well-positioned facility in an upper-tier German city. If your location is a smaller market, stress-test your model at €28–€32.
Operating Costs (OPEX)
Operating cost projections are where business plans most often diverge from reality. The figures below reflect actual operating structures for six-court halls in the German market:
| Cost item | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent / lease | €120,000 | €123,000 | €127,000 |
| Staff (5–8 FTE) | €200,000 | €220,000 | €235,000 |
| Energy (lighting, HVAC) | €45,000 | €50,000 | €55,000 |
| Maintenance & repairs | €20,000 | €25,000 | €30,000 |
| Marketing | €40,000 | €30,000 | €25,000 |
| Insurance | €12,000 | €12,000 | €13,000 |
| Booking system / IT | €8,000 | €8,000 | €9,000 |
| COGS (F&B, shop) | €25,000 | €40,000 | €48,000 |
| Admin, accounting, legal | €20,000 | €22,000 | €24,000 |
| Total OPEX | €490,000 | €530,000 | €566,000 |
Note: the rent line reflects a well-positioned facility in a mid-tier city. For Munich or Berlin, adjust upward using the city rent table above — and recalibrate your revenue assumptions accordingly.
Staffing is the line that most first-time operators get wrong. Five FTEs is a genuine minimum for professional operations — reception, court management, a coach, administration. In Germany, employer social security contributions add roughly 20% on top of gross wages. €200k in Year 1 for a five-person team is lean, not generous.
Energy depends heavily on the building envelope. An older warehouse with poor insulation and an oversized, inefficient HVAC installation can run 30–50% higher than the figures shown here. Commissioning a quick energy audit before signing the lease is cheap insurance.
Marketing is front-loaded by design. Pre-launch campaign, opening events, league partnerships — these drive the initial community that makes Year 2 look like Year 2 in the projections below. Once you have a full league schedule and a waiting list for peak slots, the marketing budget can drop substantially.
Three-Year P&L Projection
[scenario:padel-halle-6-courts:full]
The projection below assumes a blended rate of €45/hour, six courts, 14 operating hours per day (8am–10pm), 365 days per year.
| Revenue stream | Year 1 (45% util.) | Year 2 (60% util.) | Year 3 (70% util.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Court rental | €665,000 | €887,000 | €1,035,000 |
| Coaching & academy | €60,000 | €90,000 | €120,000 |
| F&B / bar | €40,000 | €65,000 | €80,000 |
| Pro shop | €15,000 | €25,000 | €30,000 |
| Events & corporate | €20,000 | €40,000 | €60,000 |
| Total revenue | €800,000 | €1,107,000 | €1,325,000 |
| Total OPEX | €490,000 | €530,000 | €566,000 |
| EBITDA | €310,000 | €577,000 | €759,000 |
Court rental dominates revenue in Year 1 (83%), which is both expected and correct for a new operation. As the facility matures, coaching programs, corporate bookings, and F&B each contribute more — these lines carry better margins than pure court hire and meaningfully improve Year 3 EBITDA.
The EBITDA margins here — 39% in Year 1, rising to 57% by Year 3 — sit at the upper end of documented European padel benchmarks. They are achievable with disciplined staffing and energy management, but they are not automatic. Underperformance on either line will compress margins quickly.
Key Financial Metrics
Five numbers your lender will ask about — and that you should be able to justify with your own sensitivity analysis:
Payback period: 3–5 years At a €1.4M total project cost (midpoint) and free cash flow of €200k+ in Year 1 scaling to €650k+ by Year 3, equity payback lands in the 3–5 year range depending on your debt structure. For a leisure-infrastructure investment, that is a strong return profile.
Break-even utilization: 35–40% Below 35% utilization, the hall typically does not cover its running costs. This sounds low in isolation — in practice, the first six months of operation routinely run at 25–30%, which is why the working capital reserve exists. Model the monthly cash position through the ramp-up explicitly.
Revenue per court target: €150k+ at maturity Year 3 in the model above: €1,035k court revenue ÷ 6 courts = €172,500 per court. This is the operational benchmark for a well-run facility. Tracking revenue per court is more useful than aggregate revenue for comparing performance across differently sized halls.
Cash-on-cash ROI: 60%+ by Year 3 With €500k equity deployed and €300k+ annual free cash flow at maturity, cash-on-cash return exceeds 60% — provided the debt service is covered. This assumes a sensible financing structure, not all-equity.
Annual debt service: ~€102k On an €800k loan at 5% over 10 years, annual debt service is approximately €102k. At Year 1 EBITDA of €310k, the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) is 3.0 — well above any lender's threshold. The stress test is: what does DSCR look like at 35% utilization? Run that number before your first bank meeting.
What Lenders Actually Look For
A padel hall is an unfamiliar asset class for most bank credit officers. They have no mental model for court utilization rates or booking yield — and that is actually an opportunity. What moves a credit committee is not enthusiasm for the sport. It is the rigor of the financial documentation. Arrive with clean numbers and you stand out from the start.
DSCR of 1.2–1.5x minimum. Lenders want operating cash flow to cover debt service with a 20–50% buffer. The base case in this model clears that bar easily; your job is to show it holds under stress scenarios too.
Signed lease agreement. Without a lease in place, the credit assessment stays hypothetical. A long-term lease with indexed escalation is a positive signal — it converts uncertain future revenue into something closer to contracted income on the credit committee's worksheet.
Monthly cash flow model for Year 1. Lenders do not expect monthly forecasts to be accurate. They use them to assess whether you have thought through the ramp-up — the timing of fit-out completion, the month of first bookings, the staffing build-out. A monthly model signals operational seriousness.
Sensitivity analysis. Show three scenarios: base case (45–60% utilization), downside (35%), and stress (25%). If your project only works at optimistic assumptions, that is important information — for you, not just for the bank.
A dedicated article on structuring a padel hall business plan and navigating German bank and KfW financing options covers this in full detail.
Bottom Line
Opening a padel hall in Germany in 2026 is a real capital commitment: €930k on the low end, €1.9M at the top, with €1.2–1.5M as the honest planning figure for a solid six-court operation. The economics, done right, are genuinely attractive — payback in 3–5 years, 60%+ cash-on-cash return at maturity, and a market that continues to grow.
The investors who succeed here are not the ones who found a cheaper build. They are the ones who understood the numbers precisely enough to make the right location and concept decisions early — and to structure their financing before the costs escalated.
Next step: Use the Padelnomics Financial Planner to model your specific scenario — your city, your financing mix, your pricing assumptions. The figures in this article are your starting point; your hall deserves a projection built around your actual numbers.