The Story of Engel & Völkers

The History of Franchising in Germany: An Overview

To understand why Engel & Völkers' franchise system offers the best conditions for interested licensees to establish themselves in the real estate industry, we first want to highlight the importance of franchising as a business model. The term "franchise" originates from French and dates back to the 17th century. It originally referred to the exemption from customs duties and taxes and the feudal lord's renouncement of the vassal services of his subjects. Later, it became a permit to hold markets and fairs on the feudal lord's land. By the mid-19th century, the term "franchise" evolved into a permission for third parties to commercially use rights. Today, often referred to as a "partnership for profit," franchising is one of the most popular ways to take the leap into self-employment, not only in Germany but also worldwide. While traditional solo ventures are increasingly on the decline, the German Franchise Association points to an expanding franchise network year after year.

New entrepreneurs often underestimate the challenges of starting a business and fail during the early stages without support. A franchise partnership with Engel & Völkers, however, provides entrepreneurs with a high level of security and support. Moreover, our franchise company is an established brand with a proven business idea that has already demonstrated its longterm success. In contrast, starting a business independently often involves a dream that is never truly achievable – meaning, the concept feels euphoric, but inevitably collides with reality.

Finally, our franchise system proves to be particularly crisis-resistant, which offers new entrepreneurs significant advantages, especially in the current economic climate. If the economic sphere is currently compared to turbulent waters, franchise providers like Engel & Völkers, due to their extensive experience, comprehensive support, and established business model, react professionally to unforeseen challenges, offering new entrepreneurs the best conditions for a safe start into self-employment – no matter when.

Engel & Völkers Franchise: Founded in Hamburg, at Home in the World

While we now consider ourselves an international franchise network with a presence around the globe, our origins lie in a real estate office in Hamburg, founded by Dirk Engel in 1977. Through our initial cooperation with the U.S. real estate company Sotheby’s International Realty and the partnership with Christian Völkers as managing shareholder, our company quickly made its mark, especially benefiting from the expansion of our portfolio: Initially, we only dealt with residential properties, but gradually, we expanded our range, making us one of the most successful companies in the global luxury real estate and premium goods market.

After expanding our offerings, the next step was to increase our service offerings and reach. With the opening of the first foreign office in Palma de Mallorca in 1990, Engel & Völkers became international and with the transition to a franchise model in 1998, a global player. Thanks to our innovative marketing concept and continuous expansion into emerging real estate markets worldwide, we completely redefined conventional real estate practices and provided the industry with something unprecedented. Although we can already look back on more than 45 years of success, our focus remains forward-looking. We have set new standards for real estate brokerage and related services through the introduction of digital tools and IT products. To continuously improve and standardize our services, we rely on the Engel & Völkers Handbook, founded by Christian Völkers, and our inhouse real estate academy, which has been in place since 1995, ensuring that our services worldwide remain both up-to-date and of the highest quality.

Become a Partner Today

Would you also like to participate in our global success and continue our successful story in an available license area in Germany or Austria? Become a partner of Engel & Völkers today and benefit from a wide range of advantages. Our expansion managers are happy to inform you about the many benefits of our real estate franchise and show you how the step into self-employment with our support can lead to success. Get in touch with us now – we look forward to welcoming you to the Engel & Völkers family soon.