Market report Berlin full year 2022

- About the logistics market in the economic region

At 858,700 m², three quarters of the leases concluded related to new-builds (2021: 313,400 m²), while 265,800 m² or 23.6% related to existing properties, representing a decrease of 14.6%. 2022 is the first year since 2018 in which new construction of warehousing, logistics and industrial space accounted for the majority of take-up in Greater Berlin.

Not including the Tesla deal, there would still be a shift towards new construction, but in a slightly weaker form: New-builds would be in the lead with 521,890 m² or two thirds of take-up, followed by existing properties with one third (265,800 m²).

Big boxes and business parks responsible for only half of total take-up

Lettings in big-box properties accounted for 472,900 m² or 42.1%, while those in business parks came to 157,600 m² or 14%. Other properties (neither big boxes nor business parks) accumulated 43.9% of take-up or 494,000 m² (also including the major Tesla deal in a production property).

Excluding Tesla’s outlier deal, it can be seen that take-up in Berlin was dominated by big boxes, which contributed 60% of take-up, while business parks and other deals each accounted for 20%.

711,900 m² of newly leased space was attributable to properties that were not owned by their users. Owner-occupied space accounted for 412,600 m², particularly including the major Tesla deal. Without Tesla, only one in ten square metres or 75,790 m² was taken up in owner-occupied properties.

We observed a total of 143 deals by all market participants on the Berlin market in 2022, which is 11 fewer than the previous year’s figure of 154. However this decrease is attributable to the smallest size category of less than 1,000 m² due to lower supply (14 deals fewer than in the previous year). This is also reflected in the average amount of space taken up, which came to 4,050 m² in 2021 and 7,900 m² or 5,500 m² (not including Tesla) in 2022.

In second place was the southern vicinity of Berlin with 301,100 m² or 26.8%, which had been in first place in 2021 with 247,100 m² or 39.6%. Despite an absolute increase of 21.9%, its share decreased the most out of all regions, falling by 12.8 percentage points. Three of the top lessees – Tesla, Schnellecke and Picnic – together contributed around 100,000 m² or one third of this region’s take-up.

Third place was taken by the city of Berlin at 262,600 m² or 23.4%, compared with second place in 2021 at 178,000 m² or 28.5%. At first glance, the city of Berlin did not seem to benefit from the strong annual result and saw a decline in its relative share of 5.1 percentage points, continuing the negative trend of the previous years since 2020. But despite this slight loss of ground in relative terms, the city increased its absolute take-up by a significant 47.5% and last year recorded its highest take-up since 2018.

Within Berlin, the Berlin South area was in the lead with 108,400 m² or 41.3%. This corresponds to an increase of 74.8% compared to 62,000 m² in 2021. Berlin West accounted for 65,100 m² or 24.8% (-20.2 percentage points, 2021: 78,900 m²), Berlin East for 54,800 m² or 20.9% (+10 percentage points; 2021: 18,600 m²) and Berlin North for 34,300 m² or 13.1% (+85.4%, compared to 8,500 m²).

Second to last was the western vicinity of Berlin with 151,100 m² or 13.4% (2021: 64,600 m² or 10.3%). It more than doubled its take-up, partly thanks to two top deals by Sonepar and LIDL, which contributed roughly half of take-up at 74,000 m².

In last place was the northern vicinity of Berlin with 34,900 m² or 3.1%, which was previously in fourth place with 80,000 m² or 12.8%. Out of all regions, it saw the biggest decrease in absolute take-up at -56.4% and the second-biggest decrease in its share at -9.7 percentage points.

As in the previous year, the largest share of space was contributed by the category of large spaces of 10,001 m² or more, which currently account for 70.1% or 788,200 m². The seven top deals alone accumulated 531,340 m² or two thirds of take-up in this size category. Not including Tesla, this category would still be in first place at 57.3% or 451,390 m².

The size category between 5,001 and 10,000 m²came second again in 2022 at 142,200 m² or 12.6% (2021: 173,700 m² or 27.8%). However, it lost the most ground year-on-year out of all categories in terms of its share of take-up, which fell by 15.2 percentage points.

The size category of 3,001 to 5,000 m² ranked fourth again with 64,500 m² or 5.7% (2021: 76,500 m² or 12.2%). Small to medium-sized spaces of between 1,000 and 3,000 m² were in third place again in 2022 with 106,400 m² or 9.5% (2021: 93,100 m² or 14.9%), while the smallest spaces of less than 1,000 m² still came last with 23,200 m² or 2.1% (2021: 34,900 m² or 5.6%).

Even without the Tesla deal, there would be a similar picture: All size categories would see a decrease in their share except that of large spaces of 10,001 m² or more, whose share would grow significantly. Likewise, only the biggest size category and the 1,000 to 3,000 m² category would post an increase in take-up.

The average rent has risen by 22%, thus outpacing the increase in the prime rent. At the end of 2022, it came to EUR 7.20/m² – close to the previous year’s level for prime rent – after EUR 5.90/m² in 2021. It thus exceeded the current five-year average of EUR 6.06/m² by 18.8%.