Yes it is (and cheap!), but I think one needs to be a resident of (or business in) Germany for it. .eu is also cheap, but similar rules apply.

> but I think one needs to be a resident of (or business in) Germany for it.

Not quite, you just need somebody acting as a local point of contact, and a number of registrars will offer this as an additional service for a small fee.

That's probably because we have things like a mandatory imprint here in Germany.