An analysis of the submarkets shows a shift towards Düsseldorf. Previously in last place, the Düsseldorf market has risen to the top in take-up with 196,300 m², accounting for 43 % of the total of all three markets, up from 113,900 m². The Ruhr region follows with 184,400 m² or 40 % (H1 2024: 164,800 m² or 36 %). After coming top in the same period of the previous year with 174,100 m², the Cologne market (H1 2025: 80,700 m²) has fallen to last place, currently accounting for just 17 % of take-up.

Overall, at 254,300 m² or 55 %, lettings in existing space continued to set the tone, falling from 299,650 m² or 66 %. Although this constitutes a decrease of 45,350 m² or 15 %, existing space still accounts for more than half of the total square meters.

New-builds on former brownfield sites now amount to 118,500 m² or 26 %, placing them in second place. At the same time last year, they ranked last with 57,000 m² or 13 %.

By contrast, greenfield new-builds currently have a combined take-up of 88,600 m², or 19 % of the total market (H1 2024: 96,050 m² or 21 %).

“The increase of approximately 61,500 m², driven by lettings in new builds on former brownfield sites, offsets the decrease from existing properties and greenfield new-build properties amounting to 52,800 m²,” says Bülent Alemdag.

The three logistics and industrial property markets of Düsseldorf, Cologne and the Ruhr region remained purely rental markets in the past half-year. As in the previous year, there were no contracts for properties for owner-occupation.

By property type, big-box spaces (i.e. modern spaces above 10,000 m²) accounted for 330,300 m² or almost three quarters (71 %) of take-up. Compared to the previous year's take-up of 311,600 m² or 69 %, this category achieved the biggest increase, namely 18,700 m² or 6 %.

Contracts for properties that do not fall under big-box sites or business parks came in second again with 104,500 m² or 23 %. Following big-box properties, this is the second-highest increase of 18,140 m² or +21 %.

By contrast, business parks fell by more than half (-28,240 m² or -51 %), contributing just 26,600 m² or 6 % (H1 2024: 54,840 m² or 12 %).

Bülent Alemdag explains the reasons for the lack of contracts in business parks: “Lots of spaces in business parks are rented out. Any units that are still available are in the expensive segment, meaning that potential users must want to locate there and be both willing and able to pay the rents.”

Sector ranking: Logistics/Distribution in first place with an increase of 59 %
The strongest industry by take-up in the first half-year with 288,400 m² or 63 % was Logistics/Distribution, which came second in the first half of last year. Across all sectors, it achieved the highest absolute increase of 106,800 m² or 59 % compared to the same period of the previous year, and exceeded the current 5-year average of 236,240 m² by 22 %.

Retail/Wholesale, which previously topped the ranking, recorded the second-highest take-up figure at 76,600 m² or 17 %. However, this figure is down by more than half (-63 %) from 204,800 m² or 45 %. While Retail/Wholesale accounted for nearly half of total take-up in the same period of the previous year, the ratio now stands at just under one in six. Its take-up is now 55 % below the average for the past five first half-years of 171,140 m². This makes Retail/Wholesale the only sector to fall short of the typical level of the past five first halves. Within Retail/Wholesale, both subcategories, traditional retail and e-commerce, posted roughly equal take-up. At 42,100 m² or 55 %, contracts with companies in traditional retail were slightly ahead of contracts with e-commerce companies, which totalled 34,500 m² (H1 2024: 121,400 m² or 59 %). However, both subcategories saw a decline in take-up, with the e-commerce category hit far harder at -86,900 m² or -72 % than traditional retail at -41,300 m² or -50 %.

Manufacturing came third behind Retail/Wholesale with 70,300 m² or 15 %. Improving from 39,000 m² or 9 %, it exceeded the 5-year average of 45,000 m² by 56 %, the highest growth among all sectors.

The “Other” category again came last with 26,100 m² or 5 %, down from 27,400 m² or 6 %, showing little change from the previous year, with a slight decrease of 1,300 m² or 5 %.
 

More than two thirds of take-up in units larger than 10,000 m²
Space units of 10,001 m² or more remain by far the most sought-after at 330,300 m² or 72 % (H1 2024: 291,800 m² or 65 %).

Larger spaces between 5,001 and 10,000 m² are still in second place with 70,900 m² or 15 % (H1 2024: 82,485 m² or 18 %). Medium-sized spaces between 3,001 and 5,000 m² fell one place to fourth with 23,900 m² or 5 % (H1 2024: 37,800 m² or 8 %). Smaller to medium-sized spaces between 1,000 and 3,000 m² moved from fourth to third place with 35,315 m² or 8 %. Micro-space of less than 1,000 m² came last with 6,100 m² or 1 % (H1 2024: 5,400 m² or 1 %).

Prime and average rents on a par with the previous year in all three markets
Rentsremained unchanged from the same period of the previous year across the board. Prime rent is in line with the previous year in all three top NRW markets. At €8.25/m², Düsseldorf is ahead of Cologne (€8.00/m²) and the Ruhr region (€7.75/m²).

“The market was influenced by a shortage of space alongside high demand, enabling project developers to set their own rents. The strong growth rates for rents seen in previous years are now a thing of the past. The market has adjusted,” says Bülent Alemdag. “It is increasingly apparent to us that owners are continuing to insist on their nominal rent. At the same time, they offer significant incentives to tenants, particularly in very peripheral locations, if they have a suitable credit rating.”

Average rent is also on a par with the previous year. It stands at €7.00/m² in Düsseldorf, €6.85/m² in Cologne and €6.50/m² in the Ruhr region.

Outlook
„A detailed assessment of the submarkets shows the strong commitment of Asian companies such as Shaoke and Nordlicht. Having received various major requests, we know that this trend is set to continue,” explains 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.