“The performance of Cologne’s industrial and logistics market is in line with average performance over the long term. It should be noted that 2021 was an absolute outlier in the last eight years and that the current five-year average of 241,480 m² was actually slightly exceeded in 2022 by 3.3%,” said Bülent Alemdag, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Düsseldorf GmbH.

No take-up in brownfields
The majority of take-up was attributable to existing properties at 62.4%/155,700 m². Deals for new builds totalled 93,700 m²/37.6%.

At 84.4%/210,500 m², most of total annual take-up was the result of letting. By contrast, owner-occupiers accounted for only slightly more than one in every six square metres, at 38,900 m²/15.6%.

Looking at types of properties, deals in big boxes dominated at 65.7%/163,800 m². Business parks played a less important role in 2022, with take-up of 7.1%/17,700 m².

Properties that are neither big boxes nor business parks accounted for slightly more than a quarter of take-up at 67,900 m².

Sector ranking: Logistics/distribution takes first place again for first time in a while
The leading sector in terms of take-up in the Cologne metropolitan region in 2022 was logistics/distribution at 95,400 m²/38.3% (2021: 100,800 m²/32.2%, second place). The two top deals in the market area by Hammer GmbH & Co. KG (30,000 m²) and Offergeld (14,000 m²) contributed 44,000 m²/46% of the sector’s take-up.

In second place currently is retail at 80,200 m²/32.2% (2021: 146,450 m²/46.8%, first place), which saw absolute take-up tumble by a substantial 45% and is now only slightly more than half the previous year’s figure. The two top deals by LIDL (30,000 m²) and Siewert & Kau (23,000 m²) together accounted for 53,000 m²/55% of retail’s share of take-up.

Out of all sectors, retail also saw the greatest decline in significance, falling by 14.6 percentage points. In the sub-category, the biggest contribution came from e-commerce with 58.6%/47,000 m², followed by traditional retail at 33,200 m²/41.4%.

Manufacturing again came in third place with 42,500 m²/17% (2021: 62,600 m²/20%). This means that take-up in the sector declined by about a third. Last place once again went to the “Other” category with 31,300 m²/12.6% (2021: 3,150 m²/1%), with the Computacenter deal accounting for the majority of this.

Size class ranking: Large spaces of 10,001 m² or more shape the market

The 2022 Cologne market was shaped almost exclusively by rentals and owner-occupancy in the 10,001 m² and above size category, which accounted for about three out of every four square metres taken up at 186,000 m². All top deals are in this category and together make up 125,000 m²/two thirds of take-up.

The size category of 5,001 to 10,000 m² was responsible for 14.5% of take-up at 36,200 m², putting it in second place.

“Units below 5,000 m² in the Cologne metropolitan region experienced a major shortage of space in 2022,” said Bülent Alemdag.

In the class of medium-sized space between 3,001 and 5,000 m², Realogis reported take-up of 12,300 m² (4.9%, fourth place).

At 13,700 m², small to medium-sized spaces of between 1,000 and 3,000 m² accounted for a total of 5.5% (third place), and the smallest spaces of less than 1,000 m² brought up the rear at 1,200 m²/0.5%.

Prime rent increases by a historic 17.6%
Prime rent experienced by far its greatest price hike in recent years of 17.6% to EUR 7.00/m², climbing to its highest level to date from EUR 5.95/m² and thus maintaining its unbroken trend since 2019. The five-year average of EUR 5.88/m² was exceeded by 19%.

Average rent picked up even more strongly than prime rent at 25% and so also hit a new provisional high of EUR 6.00/m², compared to EUR 4,80/m² previously. The five-year average of EUR 4.82/m² was exceeded by 24%.

Forecast
Realogis expects the Cologne warehouse and logistics property market to undergo numerous changes in 2023. Bülent Alemdag: “The Cologne metropolitan region will continue to experience space shortages in 2023. What is new, however, is that there will be little speculative new building. We also expect rents to rise only slightly or even stagnate after considerable increases in previous years.”

REALOGIS media contact:
Silke Westermann
Senior public relations specialist
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/