• Take-up down by approximately 20% – five-year average nonetheless topped
• Approximately two thirds of all rentals occurred in existing space
• More than 90% of take-up occurring in third-party properties
• Big box logistics responsible for almost 50%
• Sector ranking: Retail now only in second place

Düsseldorf, 27 July2022 – The North Rhine-Westphalia market for rental and owner-occupied industrial and logistics properties and business parks has suffered a severe setback compared to the previous year’s record levels in the first six months of the current year. According to Realogis – the leading consultant for industrial and logistics properties and business parks in Germany, with 70 experts – take-up by all market participants on the top markets of Düsseldorf, Cologne and the Ruhr area in the first half of 2022 adds up to a total volume of 519,500 m².

“After the record 648,000 m² in the same period of the previous year, the best half-year ever on our books, take-up was down by 19.8% in the first half of 2022 and all sub-markets reported losses,” said Bülent Alemdag, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Düsseldorf GmbH. “However, the current result is still the second-best half-year over the past five reporting periods. This is also reflected by the five-year average, which is 515,600 m² and was even topped by 0.8% in the current period.”

According to Realogis, 126,100 m² of NRW’s total take-up relates to Düsseldorf, 129,200 m² to Cologne and 264,200 m² to the Ruhr area. The biggest contracts in H1 2022 were in the Ruhr area: 50,000 m² with ITG, 28,000 m² with JW Fulfillment and 26,900 m² with C&K Logistik. The biggest deal in the Cologne market area was for 30,000 m² with Hammer GmbH & Co. KG, and in the Düsseldorf area this distinction goes to the trading company Picnic at 20,000 m².

In particular, rentals of existing space accounted for most of the half-year’s total volume at 310,600 m² (59.8%), followed by new space at 208,900 m² (40.2%), according to the market report.

Just one contract for owner-occupied use
Tenants renting space that they do not own account for the lion’s share at 480,600 m² (92.5%). The only sub-market with contracts for owner-occupied use is Cologne: Moving forward, Siewert & Kau will be using more than 23,000 m² and Offergeld around 14,000 m².

Looking at sub-market take-up for third-party use, the Ruhr area stands out at 264,200 m² (55%), followed by Düsseldorf at 126,100 m² (26.2%) and Cologne at 90,300 m² (18.8%).

Big box logistics responsible for almost 50%
Big box rentals – i.e. large spaces of 10,000 m² or more mainly used for logistics and with a maximum office share of 20% – made a key contribution to total take-up at 348,200 m² (67%), while business parks claimed just 38,700 m² (7.4%). Other space not allocated to either the big box or business park categories accounted for 132,600 m² (25.5%).

The Ruhr area claimed the biggest share of big box rentals at 171,500 m² (49.3%), followed by Cologne at 103,600 m² (29.8%) and Düsseldorf at 73,100 m² (21%). By contrast, Düsseldorf took the lead on business park contracts at 18,400 m² (47.5%), followed by Cologne at 11,100 m² (28.7%) and the Ruhr area at 9,200 m² (23.8%). Other stand-alone space not allocated to either the big box or business park categories accounted for 83,500 m² (63%) in the Ruhr area, 34,600 m² (26.1%) in Düsseldorf and 14,500 m² (10.9%) in Cologne.

Sector ranking: Retail now only in second place
With retail still accounting for one in every two square metres of take-up in the same period of the previous year, the logistics/distribution sector once again secured the majority of all available properties this time and is gaining in significance in both absolute and relative terms (up 28.2 percentage points). At 318,600 m² (61.3%), this sector took almost two out of every three square metres of take-up (H1 2021: 244,420 m², 37.7%). The biggest contracts in this category over the reporting period were with ITG (50,000 m²), Hammer GmbH & Co.KG (30,000 m²), JW Fulfillment (28,000 m²) and C&K Logistik (26,900 m²).

Retail, the previous number one, is currently ranked second at 167,800 m² with a share of 32.3% (H1 2021: 336,250 m², 51.9%), a relative decline of 19.6 percentage points. Within retail, e-commerce claimed the biggest share at 127,600 m² (76%), followed by traditional retail at 40,200 m² (28%). The table of top deals in this category is headed by Deichmann (24,226 m²), followed by Siewert & Kau (23,000 m²), Picnic (20,000 m²), Galaxus (14,000 m²) and NSB Polymers (7,000 m²).

The manufacturing sector has no major deals to report, but still managed a take-up of 31,200 m² (6% of total take-up) (H1 2021: 31,490 m², 4.9%). Last place this time goes to the “Other” category with 1,900 m² or 0.4% (H1 2021: 35,840 m², 5.5%).

REALOGIS press contact:
SH/Communication – Public Relations Agency
Silke Westermann
Press
Fritz-Vomfelde-Strasse 34, 40547 Düsseldorf
Tel: +49/211/53 88 3-440
e-mail: s.westermann@shcommunication.de

REALOGIS company contact:
REALOGIS Holding GmbH
Silja Schuppler
Marketing
Rundfunkplatz 4, 80335 Munich
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 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 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/