OpenImmo for TYPO3

Why real estate websites without OpenImmo integration create double work

Real estate agents maintain their properties in management software like FlowFact, onOffice, ImmoTool or JustImmo. Every property with images, prices, areas and location descriptions. This data should also appear on the website - but without manual double entry. OpenImmo is the German XML standard that bridges exactly this gap: the management software exports properties as XML, TYPO3 imports them automatically and displays them on the website.

Without OpenImmo integration, an office with 40 active properties maintains every listing twice - once in the management software and once on the website. At an average processing time of 15 minutes per property, that amounts to 10 hours per month for data maintenance alone that an automated pipeline completely eliminates.

Typical use cases

Automated import for real estate websites. A real estate office with 30 to 100 active properties runs its website on TYPO3. Every night, onOffice exports all properties as OpenImmo XML to an FTP server. A TYPO3 scheduler task fetches the XML file, parses it and updates the properties in the database - new properties are created, changed ones updated, sold ones archived. By morning, the website is automatically current.

Real estate portals with multi-provider aggregation. A regional real estate platform aggregates properties from 10 to 30 agents. Each agent delivers their properties in OpenImmo format. TYPO3 imports all feeds, assigns properties to the respective providers and displays them on a shared platform with unified search and filtering.

Builder websites with apartment overviews. A builder sells 50 residential units in a new construction project. Availability and prices are maintained in the management software. Through OpenImmo import, the TYPO3 website updates the status of each unit automatically: available, reserved or sold. Prospects see in real time which apartments are still available.

Technical architecture

The OpenImmo integration in TYPO3 consists of four components:

• XML parser: reads the OpenImmo XML file and converts it into PHP objects. The OpenImmo schema defines over 200 fields per property: purchase price, cold rent, living area, plot area, number of rooms, year of construction, energy certificate, location description, up to 30 images and floor plans. The parser must support all field variants and versions of the OpenImmo schema (1.2.7 through 1.2.8).
• Import pipeline: a scheduler task or CLI command executes the import regularly. The pipeline processes: file download (FTP, SFTP, local directory), XML validation, property mapping (OpenImmo fields to TYPO3 database fields), image import (images transferred to FAL), differential matching (only changed properties are updated).
• Frontend display: an Extbase plugin shows properties as a list with filtering (buy/rent, price range, area, number of rooms, postal code radius) and as a detail view with image gallery, location map (via maps2 or Leaflet) and contact form.
• Brochure generation: optionally, property detail pages can be downloaded as PDF brochures (via web2pdf or a custom PDF template engine).

Dependencies: TYPO3 Core, optionally maps2/geocoordinates for map display and radius search, optionally web2pdf for PDF brochures. The data volume per import can be substantial: a real estate office with 100 active properties and 20 images each produces an XML file of 5 to 15 MB and an image folder of 500 MB to 2 GB. The import process must handle these volumes efficiently without blocking server resources.

Common problems and solutions

Import aborts with XML parsing errors. Real estate software sometimes exports non-schema-conformant XML. Missing required fields, invalid character encoding (ISO-8859-1 instead of UTF-8) or unclosed tags cause the abort. Solution: build an XML preprocessing step that validates the file before import, corrects encoding issues and fills missing required fields with default values. Gosign implements this step as a standalone service that logs errors and notifies the agent.

Images not imported correctly. OpenImmo XML references images through relative paths or URLs. If the FTP upload places images in a different directory than the XML expects, image references remain empty. Solution: configure the import to search for images relative to the XML directory and implement a fallback on filename matching if paths do not match.

Deleted properties remain visible on the website. OpenImmo uses two ways to mark properties as sold/deleted: through a status field in the XML or by omitting the property from the next export. Not all import extensions support both variants. Solution: configure the import for full reconciliation - properties missing from the current XML export are automatically marked as “sold” or archived.

Migration and version compatibility

For OpenImmo in TYPO3, several extensions exist: openimmo (TER), femanager_openimmo and various proprietary solutions. Most are available for TYPO3 v10 and v11. For TYPO3 v12 and v13, the selection is more limited as some extensions are no longer actively maintained.

The OpenImmo format itself is stable. Version 1.2.7 has been the de facto standard for years, and all relevant real estate software packages support it. A switch to the newer version 1.2.8 requires parser adjustments but adds fields (energy certificate per GEG 2024, extended location descriptions).

Gosign recommends evaluating the existing OpenImmo extension during a TYPO3 upgrade from v10/v11 to v12. If the maintainer is no longer active, switching to a custom import pipeline with modern PHP (typed properties, enums for property types, event-based architecture) pays off. The initial effort is 5 to 8 days, but the pipeline is independent of third-party extensions and maintainable long-term. The pipeline can also be easily extended with additional data sources: IS24 interface, Immowelt API or proprietary XML formats from builders can be integrated as additional import adapters without changing the overall architecture.