"Together, all market participants in the Düsseldorf market area generated a total take-up of 196,300 m² in the first two quarters. This is not only the highest result in the last five years, but also in the last ten comparable half-years. At the same time, it is the second-highest figure for a first half-year in the Düsseldorf area since we began recording data in 2014. This just falls short of the previous record of 220,000 m² set in the first half of 2015," comments Bülent Alemdag, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Düsseldorf GmbH.

With an absolute increase of 82,400 m² compared to the same period last year, this represents the strongest percentage increase since 2014 (+72 %, coming from 113,900 m² in H1 2024). The five top deals in the Düsseldorf market area alone accounted for almost 120,000 m² (118,640 m²), contributing more than half of the total take-up in the first six months.

"The high level of enthusiasm among Asian companies to conclude deals was the deciding factor. These companies are focusing on functional logistics facilities in good locations, such as at the port, and on the availability of skilled workers. They prefer new buildings that are WGK-compliant in order to meet their high safety standards and maintain the quality they are accustomed to in their home market. The Düsseldorf market benefited from this development in the first half of the year," reports Bülent Alemdag.

Key take-up drivers H1 2025

The five-year average for the first half of the year also reflects the positive result. It currently stands at 147,260 m², exceeding the benchmark by 33 %.

As in the same period last year, contract signings for existing space set the pace with 124,400 m² or 63 %. Coming from 93,450 m², the absolute value increased by 30,950 m² or 33 %, although the dominance of existing space was even higher in the same period last year, accounting for 82 % of total space take-up. Among the top deals, Goodcang contributed 43,200 m² and Nordlicht 20,000 m², which together represent around half of the space take-up in this category.

"In contrast to the same period last year, when no deals were recorded, new buildings on former brownfield sites totalled 51,900 m² or 27 % of the Düsseldorf market in the first half of 2025," explains Bülent Alemdag. The most important deals in this category, concluded by an E-Commerce and MIC Logistik, account for a total of 35,440 m² or 68 % of space take-up.

New buildings on greenfield sites accounted for 10 % of total take-up with 20,000 m², all of which was attributable to Tecpro. In absolute terms, this represents a sideways movement from 20,450 m², corresponding to a slight decline of 450 m² or 2 %.

As in the same period last year, the market was dominated exclusively by rental agreements, with no owner-occupier deals observed.

Ranking by building type: Three out of four square metres let in big-box spaces
Modern big-box properties larger than 10,000 m² dominate the market in terms of building type, accounting for 153,600 m². With three out of four square metres transacted (or 78 %), they quadrupled their result from the same period last year (H1 2024: 37,300 m² or 33 %) increasing by 116,300 m² or 312 %.

Properties that do not fall into the business park category or meet the specifications for big-box space account for 29,900 m² or 15 %. This represents a delta of 16,360 m² or 35 %, resulting in a drop from first to second place.

Business parks currently have the lowest market relevance with 12,800 m² or 7 %, down from 30,340 m² or 27 % (also ranked third).

"The increase in the big-box category outweighs the combined decline of business parks and other properties many times over, resulting in a gain of 82,400 m² when comparing the last two half-years," explains Bülent Alemdag.

Industry ranking: Logistics/Distribution in first place with 63 %
Logistics/Distribution is once again the leading sector in Düsseldorf's logistics, warehouse and industrial property market, accounting for 123,000 m² or 63 % of total take-up. Coming from 58,200 m² or 51 %, this represents more than a doubling (+111 %). Large deals by Goodcang, Nordlicht and MIC Logistik totalled 78,460 m² or 64 % of space take-up in this sector.

"The past six months have been exceptionally strong in terms of space demand from companies in the Logistics/Distribution sector: the typical level, based on the five-year average of 86,340 m², has been exceeded by a significant 42 %," said Bülent Alemdag. "However, this development is not a one-off phenomenon, as all sectors, with the exception of Retail/Wholesale, have shown unusually strong take-up of space compared to the last five first half-years and are at least 42 % above their respective averages."

This is followed by Retail/Wholesale with 33,300 m² or 17 %, up from 22,800 m² or 20 %, meaning that the importance of Retail/Wholesale in terms of total space take-up remains largely stable. In absolute terms, this represents an increase of 10,500 m² or 46 %. Although the Retail/Wholesale sector is the only one with a current take-up figure falling below its five-year average (38,916 m²), the decline of 14 % represents a significant improvement on the same period last year, when the decline was 42 %. Within the Retail/Wholesale sector, the E-Commerce subcategory dominates with 25,300 m² or 76 %, up from 15,000 m² or 66 %, representing an absolute increase of 10,300 m². The top deal in this subcategory was secured by an E-Commerce company with 20,180 m², accounting for more than half of the space take-up in Retail/Wholesale sector.

By contrast, space take-up in Traditional retail stagnated at 8,000 m², or 24 %, which is only 200 m² above the previous year's figure for the first half of 2024 of 7,800 m² (+3 %).

The Manufacturing sector came in last with 26,000 m², representing 13 % of total space take-up (H1 2024: 16,000 m² or 14 %). In contrast to the same period last year, one of the top deals in this sector was concluded by Tecpro with 20,000 m², which accounts for 77 % of the sector's total take-up.

The collective category "Other" ranks last with 14,000 m² or 7 %, the only category to record a moderate decline in space take-up of 2,900 m² or 17 %.

Ranking of size categories: Three out of four square metres in units larger than 10,000 m²
Large spaces of 10,001 m² and above were the preferred choice of users in the first half of 2025, with space take-up of 153,600 m² or three out of every four square metres (78 %) transacted on the Düsseldorf market. Coming from just 17,500 m² in H1 2024, the current figure represents an almost ninefold increase. While only one transaction was concluded in this category in the same period last year, accounting for the entire 17,500 m², all five of the top transactions currently contribute a total of 118,640 m² or 77 %.

Units between 5,001 and 10,000 m² have slipped to second place, falling from 61,385 m² or 54 % to 37,985 m² or 2 %, the sharpest decline of all size categories (more than halving with -62 %).

Medium-sized units between 3,001 and 5,000 m² account for 4,000 m² or 2 % and are in last place (coming from fourth place – the penultimate place – with 9,200 m² or 8 %).

Smaller to medium-sized spaces between 1,000 and 3,000 m² account for 10,900 m² or 6 % and are thus in third place. Coming from second place with 21,815 m² or 19 %, they declined by 10,915 m², which corresponds to a halving.

Small spaces under 1,000 m² were in second-last place in the past six months with 4,400 m² or a share of just 2 %.

"Spaces of 5,001 m² and above account for 90 % of total space take-up, or 9 out of 10 square metres taken up on the Düsseldorf market – this illustrates their dominance in the first half of 2025. In the same period last year, the figure was 69 %," said Bülent Alemdag.

Prime and average rents remain at the previous year's level

After rising continuously in the half-yearly review since H1 2018, the prime rent is currently stagnating at €8.25/m², i.e. the same level as in the first half of 2024. Average rents also remained at the same level as in the previous year at €7.00/m², with the most recent stagnation occurring in H1 2023.
 

Outlook
"The Düsseldorf market continues to be characterised by brisk new-build activity. At the same time, units in existing properties are coming onto the market. It remains to be seen how these spaces will be absorbed," 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 Manager
Leopoldstraße 154, 80804 Munich
Phone: +49/89/51 55 69 17
E-mail: s.schuppler@realogis.de
www.realogis.de

REALOGIS. The No. 1 for industrial and logistics properties

The REALOGIS Group is Germany's leading address for consulting and brokerage services for industrial and logistics properties and commercial land and has a 20-year track record of success. Founded in 2005, the owner-managed, organically grown and crisis-proof group of companies knows the German market like no other.

In the 2023 financial year, Realogis' audited net commission income across all services totalled around 15.76 million euros. In the lettings segment alone, the group achieved take-up of 982,232 m² in 2023, which corresponds to 16.5 % of the total take-up of all market participants in Germany in that year and also represents a doubling of Realogis' market share since 2016.

Around 70 property professionals provide advice and support to national and international companies from the logistics, e-commerce, retail and industrial sectors as well as private and institutional investors. Fast, flexible, regional and customer-orientated. The group has eight branches in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Germany South/North, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.

Its four core competences include finding tenants with strong credit ratings for existing and new-build properties, supporting investors in property investments and in the development of greenfield and brownfield projects, providing a perfect service for property searches and sales and developing and implementing holistic property strategies. This covers the entire property cycle - from location analysis and optimisation of expansion targets to the sale of assets that are no longer required for operations.

In short: REALOGIS offers "More space for your success" in every respect.