"The downward trend of the previous year has been broken and after a weak previous year, take-up in the most important logistics markets in North Rhine-Westphalia is once again within reach of the 1 million m² mark of the previous years 2020, 2021 and 2022. The market is thus approaching the 5-year average of 1.09 million m² again. The take-up of space in Cologne and Düsseldorf is particularly noteworthy, both of which were above average and exceeded their respective 5-year averages by 14% and 12%," comments Bülent Alemdag, Managing Director of market-leading Realogis Immobilien Düsseldorf GmbH.

Once again, lettings in existing space were responsible for the majority of take-up. At 597,000 m² or 63%, they accounted for almost two out of three of the square metres taken up in the logistics and industrial property market in NRW. Compared to the previous year (505,600 m² or 57%), they increased by 91,400 m² or 18%.

Rental contracts in new buildings on greenfield sites again contributed the second most space with 190,100 m² or 20%, but fell by 71,700 m² or -27% from 261,800 m² or 30%.

New contracts on revitalised brownfield sites contributed 156,000 m² or 17%, an increase of 37,800 m² or 32% (FY 2023: 118,200 m² or 13%).

As in previous years, the Ruhr region generated the highest contribution to total take-up, taking the lead with 345,600 m² or 37%, followed by Düsseldorf with 319,500 m² or 34% and Cologne with 278,000 m² or 29%. These were all rental agreements; not a single space absorption by owner-occupiers was registered. In the previous year, owner-occupiers accounted for 32,200 m², although this only contributed around 4% of total take-up.

In terms of building type, big box lettings once again dominated with more than two out of three square metres taken up: they accounted for 654,800 m² or 70%, which corresponds to an increase of 57,800 m² or 10% from 597,000 m² in 2023. This was followed by properties that are neither big boxes nor business parks with 171,600 m² or 18% (FY 2023: 216,100 m²; corresponds to -44,500 m² or -21%). Business parks remain in third place, but with a higher share of take-up than in the previous year, at 116,700 m² or 12% (FY 2023: 72,500 m² or 8%). They recorded a significant absolute increase of 44,200 m² (+61%).

Sector ranking: Retail/Wholesale doubles its decrease in space and takes the lead
With 426,500 m² or 45%, Retail/Wholesale was the dominant sector among those taking up space in 2024 and took the lead from second place with 196,000 m² in the previous year and more than doubled its take-up, achieving an increase of 230,500 m². The 5-year average for this category of currently 442,225 m² was only slightly missed by 4%.

Within the sector, the e-commerce sub-category leads with 247,400 m² or 58% (FY 2023: 81,300 m² or 41%), which increased its take-up by 166,100 m² and thus tripled. The traditional retail sector accounted for 179,100 m² or 42%, up from 114,700 m² or 64,400 m², which corresponds to an increase of 56%.

The dominance of the Retail/Wholesale sector is emphasised by the strongest individual deals: All 5 top deals fall within this range, contributing a total of 245,255 m² or 57% and thus more than half of the total take-up achieved in 2024.

In second place in 2024 is the Logistics/Distribution sector with 367,200 sqm or 39%. Coming from first place with 420,900 m² or 48%, this category lost the second most space of all with -53,700 m² or 13% and fell 24% short of the 5-year average of 481,755 m², which was characterised by four strong previous years.

The Manufacturing sector, which was previously in last place, was in third place with 93,700 m² or 10% with a delta of 28,800 m² or 24% compared to the previous year's result at (FY 2023: 122,500 m² or 14%). Of all sectors, however, it is the least likely to fall below its 5-year average at -2%.

In last place is the "Other" collective category with 55,700 m² or 6% (FY 2023: third place with 146,200 m² or 16%). The current 5-year average take-up of 75,000 m² was undercut by 26%.

Key take-up drivers in 2024

Ranking of size categories: Large spaces with the strongest growth
The industrial and logistics property owner-occupier and rental market in NRW continues to be clearly dominated by large spaces: once again, almost 7 out of 10 square metres taken up or 635,000 m² are in the 10,001 m² and above size category. Coming from 598,800 m² or 67% in 2023, this is an increase of 36,200 m² or 6%, the most significant absolute increase of all size categories. The top deals all belong to this category and contributed a total of 245,255 m² or 39%.

At 137,700 m² or 14%, the category of larger to large units between 5,001 - 10,000 m² again accounted for the second most space (FY 2023: 138,800 m² or 16%), which equates to a sideways movement (difference of 1,100 m² or 1%).

"In 2024, units of 5,001 m² or more were responsible for 772,700 m² and four out of five square metres taken up, which shows the outstanding importance they play for the logistics and industrial property market in NRW," says Bülent Alemdag.

The space category between 3,001 and 5,000 m² accounted for 91,800 m² or 10%, which corresponds to the highest percentage growth of all categories of 18,800 m² or +26%, coming from 73,000 m².

Small to medium-sized spaces between 1,000 and 3,000 m² are in fourth place with 72,500 m² or 8%, up from 67,800 m² or also 8% (a moderate increase of 4,700 m² or 7%). Very small units of less than 1,000 m² are still in last place with 6,100 m² or 1%, up from 7,200 m² or 1%.

Prime rents: Düsseldorf and Cologne with sideways movement, Ruhr area with 7% increase in rents
The most expensive sub-market in terms of prime rents among the three top NRW markets is still Düsseldorf at €8.25/m², closely followed by Cologne at €8.00/m² and, with a difference of €0.25/m², the Ruhr area at €7.75/m². While Düsseldorf and Cologne recorded a sideways movement year-on-year, the Ruhr region increased by 7% year-on-year.

The highest average rent of €7.00/m² was paid for properties in the Düsseldorf market area (+8%, up from €6.50/m²), followed by Cologne at €6.85/m² (+9%, up from €6.30/m²) and the Ruhr area at €6.50/m² (+7%, up from €6.10/m²). This means that all three markets recorded price increases year-on-year. However, these were formed in the first six months of 2024; there were no further price increases when comparing the rental prices at the end of the year with the rental prices at the end of the first half of 2024.

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. 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 and stands for 20 years of success. 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 2021 Realogis generated nearly 1,3 million m² of usable space alone in the letting segment. The net commission revenue of all services in the financial year 2021 are EUR 25 million.

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

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.