Tenants, owners and project developers can find these and other analyses in the latest market report from Realogis, Germany's leading consultancy for industrial and logistics properties and commercial land.

Cologne's industrial and logistics property market was exclusively a tenants' market in the first six months of 2024; no owner-occupier transactions were registered. Existing properties absorbed 98,500 m² of space or 56.6 % of the total market, up from 65,770 m² or a share of 90.8 %. However, the increase of 32,730 m² or 49.8 % also means a loss of 34 percentage points in the share of take-up.

"Although more than every second square metre accounted for total take-up in the past six months, this is significantly less than in the previous year, when it was 9 out of 10," comments Bülent Alemdag, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Düsseldorf GmbH.

Lettings in new buildings totalled 75,600 m² or 43.4%, an increase of 68,970 m² or eleven times the previous year's figure of just 6,630 m².

"Following the significant slump in the same period last year, the current good result is back to the level of the first half of 2022, when take-up from new build lettings totalled 77,900 m²," says Bülent Alemdag.

As in previous years, brownfields, i.e. the development of brownfield sites, do not play a role in the Cologne market.

In terms of building type, large-scale properties, so-called big boxes, dominate the market with 150,700 m² or a share of 86.6 % (H1 2023: 37,201 m² or 51.4 %). They thus quadrupled in absolute terms to 113,499 m² and also increased by 35 percentage points in percentage terms.

"Large spaces, which are so important for industry and logistics, are the only property type to see a significant increase in take-up in the first half of 2024, massively overcompensating for the decline in business parks and other properties," reports Bülent Alemdag.

Business parks are again in second place with 15,200 m² or 8.7 %, followed by 24,280 m² or 33.5 %, which corresponds to a delta of 9,080 m² or -37.4 %. The category of other properties brings up the rear with 8,200 m² or 4.7 % (H1 2023: 10,919 m² or 15.1 %, which corresponds to a delta of 2,719 m² or 24.9 %).

Sector ranking: retail with an outstanding first half-year
With 118,100 m² or 67.8% (H1 2023: 23,540 m² or 32.5%), retail was not only the sector with the highest take-up in the first half of 2024, but also the category with the most significant growth (more than fivefold) with an increase of 94,560 m². The 5-year average of 69,620 m² was exceeded by a significant 69.6 %.

At 75,600 m² or 64 %, the majority of take-up was accounted for by the sub-category of traditional retail, after Realogis did not record any deals in the previous year. Take-up in the e-commerce sub-category totalled 42,500 m² or 36% (H1 2023: 23,540 m²; growth of 18,960 m² or 80.5%). Fressnapf's take-up of 72,000 m² accounts for 95.2% of take-up in traditional retail, while Woltu GmbH's take-up of 39,000 m² accounts for 91.7% of take-up in e-commerce. In total, the two deals account for 110,995 m² or 94% of take-up in the retail sector.

Key contributors to take-up

The logistics/distribution sector follows in second place with 46,400 m² or 26.7 %, having previously been in third place with 14,865 m² or 20.5 %. This corresponds to an increase of 31,535 m² (more than tripling), topping the 5-year average of 39,513 m² by 17.4 %. More than a third of the sector's result can be attributed to the take-up by Blitz Distribution with a take-up of 18,000 m² (38.8 %).

In third place is the previous bottom performer, manufacturing, with 8,100 m² or 4.7% after 9,780 m² or 13.5% in the first half of 2023 (slight decline of 1,680 m² or 17.2%). The current half-year result is 19.7% below the 5-year average of 10,084 m².

In last place is the formerly top-ranked miscellaneous category “supply/others” with 1,500 m² or 0.9 %, down from 24,215 m² or 33.4 % (-22,715 m² or -93.8 %).

Ranking of the size categories: Large spaces on the rise
Large spaces of 10,001 m² or more accounted for 150,600 m² or 86.5 % in the past six months, up from 19,487 m² or 26.9 % in H1 2023. It is therefore the only size category to gain in importance and recorded a significant 59.6 percentage points of growth in pro rata take-up (from a share of 26.9 % to currently 86.5 %).

Space in the category between 5,001 and 10,000 m² remains in third place, currently suffering the second most significant absolute decline at -9,614 m² to 8,100 m² or 4.7 % (H1 2023: 17,714 m² or 24.5 %).

The previously leading space between 3,001 and 5,000 m² came in second place with 9,100 m² or 5.2 % and, at 14,649 m² or -61.7 %, lost the most space take-up of all categories compared to the same period last year. Smaller to medium-sized spaces between 1,000 and 3,000 m² continued to accumulate the second-lowest take-up of the past six months at 6,000 m² or 3.4 %, down from 10,950 m² or 15.1 % (decline of 4,950 m² or 45.2 %). Very small units of less than 1,000 m² continue to play a subordinate role with take-up of 300 m² or 0.2 %.

Prime rent climbs to 8 euros per square metre
The prime rent for industrial and logistics properties in Cologne reached a new high of €8.00/m² with an increase of 8.8% (H1 2023: €7.35/m²). The 5-year average of €6.77/m² was thus exceeded by a significant 18.2 %.

The average rent climbed to €6.85 (+8.7%), exceeding the 5-year average of €5.59/m² by 23%.

Outlook
"We are observing a cyclical reluctance to conclude rental agreements in the Cologne market for industrial and logistics properties. There are currently a number of new developments in the pipeline, although rents are expected to be over EUR 9 per square metre. It remains to be seen how these new rents will be received and accepted on the market," says Bülent Alemdag.

Press contact REALOGIS:
SH/Communication - Agency for Public Relations
Silke Westermann
Tel: +49/211/53 88 3-440
E-Mail: s.westermann@shcommunication.de

Company contact REALOGIS:
REALOGIS Holding GmbH
Silja Schuppler
Marketing
Leopoldstraße 154, 80804 München
Tel: +49/89/51 55 69 17
E-Mail: s.schuppler@realogis.de
www.realogis.de

REALOGIS. No. 1 for industrial and logistics properties

The REALOGIS Group is Germany’s leading player for the consulting and brokering of industrial, logistics and commercial properties. Founded in 2005 as a pioneer for the asset class of logistics and industry, the owner-operated group has enjoyed healthy growth, is crisis-resistant and knows the German market like no other. In 2022 Realogis generated nearly 1.25 million m² of usable space alone in the letting segment. The net commission revenue of all services in the financial year 2023 are around EUR 19 million.

In 2021, REALOGIS also won the German Real Estate Prize in the “Commercial Player” category, which honours companies for their outstanding commitment, creativity, innovative strength and sustainability.

Realogis is represented in the country’s seven top logistics locations of Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart, while a dedicated organisational unit ensures transparency in around 15 additional regional logistics markets. 70 real estate professionals advise national and international companies from the fields of logistics, e-commerce, retail and industry as well as private and institutional investors. Quick, flexible, regional, customer-oriented and with a high volume of transactions.

REALOGIS four core competencies are arranging highly creditworthy tenants for new and existing properties, assisting investors with property investments and project development of greenfields and brownfields, outstanding service for locating or selling sites, and the development and implementation of holistic property strategies.

In short, REALOGIS creates more room for its customers’ success in every sense. Further information: https://www.realogis.de/