“Düsseldorf was exclusively a rental market in 2022, with owner-occupiers playing no role last year. After peaking in 2021, take-up was nevertheless the second strongest in the last five years and is almost exactly in line with the five-year average of 265,240 m²,” commented Bülent Alemdag, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Düsseldorf GmbH.

While rentals in existing properties accounted for 58.3%/154,500 m² of take-up, brownfields (developed derelict sites) made up 27.1%/72,000 m² in the meantime and new builds just 38,700 m²/14.6%.

The highest number of leases were concluded for big-box logistics properties, which comprised 153,100 m²/57.7% of take-up. Take-up in business parks was 17.2%/45,600 m². Properties that are not located in business parks and do not meet the big box criteria accounted for 25.1% of total take-up/66,500 m².

Sector ranking: distribution/logistics number 1, considerable upturn for manufacturing
Logistics/distribution has consistently been the leading sector since 2019 with take-up of 103,800 m²/39.1% (2021: 213,500 m²/61%). Nevertheless, it lost the most ground in terms of relative take-up out of all sectors, recording a decline of 21.9 percentage points. In absolute terms, take-up in 2022 was only half the previous year’s level. The two top lessees in this sector are Bohnen Logistik (19,356 m²) and Gate 41 Logistics GmbH (13,364 m²), which together account for 32,720 m²/31.5% of sector take-up.

Retail was hot on the heels of logistics/distribution in the Düsseldorf metropolitan area in 2022, at 101,500 m²/38.3% of take-up. This put retail companies down slightly on the previous year (-6.5%; 2021: 108,500 m²/31%), although they gained 7.3 percentage points in terms of relative significance. The top deals by Picnic (20,000 m²) and Galaxus (14,000 m²) together contributed 34,000 m²/33%.

“E-commerce deals accounted for more than one in two square metres in retail in 2022,” said Bülent Alemdag. To be precise, the Realogis analysis puts the share at 55.3%/56,100 m². By contrast, traditional retail made up 45,400 m²/44.7%.

The manufacturing sector moved up a place in 2022, coming in third at 19.8% of total take-up/52,500 m² (2021: 3%/10,500 m²). Accordingly, the sector stepped up its absolute take-up five-fold and also enjoyed the greatest increase in relevance in relation to all sectors (+16.8 percentage points). This good performance was thanks primarily to the 32,000 m² lease concluded by the Vaillant Group, the largest in NRW for 2022 as a whole, which accounted for 61% of sector take-up.

Last place went to the “Other” category at 7,400 m²/2.8% (2021: 17,500 m²/5%).

Major deals dominate
The Düsseldorf market for logistics, warehousing and industrial space was dominated by major deals in excess of 10,001 m² last year. All five top deals were in this size category, which together accounted for 98,720 m²/about 59% of take-up.

All letting in the large spaces category combined accounted for 167,800 m²/63.3% of total annual take-up.

Medium-sized to larger space between 5,001 – 10,000 m² is responsible for 22,400 m²/8.4% (fourth place) and the 3,001 to 5,000 m² size category for 28,900 m²/10.9% (third place). Small to medium-sized spaces of between 1,000 and 3,000 m² come in second at 29,500 m²/11.1%, and last place goes to the smallest spaces of less than 1,000 m² at 6.3%/16,600 m².

Prime and average rents see double-digit increase for first time
Prime rents climbed to a new all-time high of EUR 7.15/m² in 2022, a price increase of 13.5% (2021: EUR 6.30/m²). “This represents the most significant increase in prime rents in the last five years, with double-digit growth seen for the first time,” said Bülent Alemdag. The five-year average of EUR 6.15/m² was exceeded by 16.3%.

Climbing by 13.2%, average rent rose by almost as much as prime rents. This figure also reached its highest level to date at EUR 6.00/m² and recorded double-digit year-on-year growth for the first time. The current five-year average is EUR 5.18/m² and was thus exceeded by 15.8%.

Forecast
“The Düsseldorf metropolitan region will continue to experience space shortages. However, there will be far less speculative development of new logistics properties, bucking the trend seen in recent years. We also expect rents to stagnate or rise only very modestly,” added Bülent Alemdag.

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/