After a significant recovery in the first half of 2024 from the historic low in the first half of 2023, the upward trend continued in the first six months of 2025. Although growth is noticeably lower at 12 % than in the same period last year at 78 %, the trend remains positive," reports Bülent Alemdag, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Düsseldorf GmbH. Since its establishment within the Realogis Group, the branch has been responsible for the three top North Rhine-Westphalia markets of Düsseldorf, Cologne and the Ruhr region.

The current result falls short of the five-year average of 199,150 m² by a moderate 7 % – a significant improvement on the same period last year, when the deviation from the average of the last five first half-years was 26 %.

Existing leases continue to dominate with 121,900 m² or 66 %. Coming from 107,700 m², this represents an increase of 14,200 m²or 13 %.

Large deals by JD Logistics, Nordlicht and Shaoke Logistics GmbH contributed a total of 86,800 m², which equates to a 73 % share of total take-up in the existing properties category.

Lettings in new buildings (greenfield sites) accounted for 38,800 m²or 21 % of total take-up.

By contrast, deals on former brownfield sites halved their result compared to the same period last year, with a decline in space of 23,700 m² (down 33,400 m² or 58 %). The lion's share of take-up (84 %) was accounted for by JD Logistics, which leased over 20,000 m².

Key take-up drivers H1 2025

The Ruhr region was purely a rental market in the first half of the year, with no owner-occupier deals observed, as in the same period last year.

Rental transactions involving big-box properties continued to account for the majority of space at 132,400 m², representing 72 % of total take-up in the first half of 2025. Compared with the same period last year, when the figures were 123,600 m² and 75 %, this represents a moderate increase of 8,000 m² or 7 %. The importance of the big-box category has therefore remained almost unchanged.

By contrast, the "Other" category, which cannot be assigned to either the big-box category or the business parks, has grown significantly. Coming from 31,900 m², take-up rose by 20,100 m² or 63 % to currently 52,000 m² and, with a share of 28 %, remains the second strongest segment.

No new lease contracts involving industrial parks were recorded in the current market report period. In the same period last year, they were also of minor importance (H1 2024: 9,300 m² or 6 %).

Industry ranking: Logistics/Distribution unchallenged at the top
With 139,000 m² and a 75 % share of total space take-up, the Logistics/Distribution sector maintained its leading position in the first half of 2025 (H1 2024: 77,000 m²or 47 %). 77 % or 106,800 m² of rental space was accounted for by large deals with JD Logistics, Nordlicht and Shaoke Logistics GmbH. This means that three out of every four square metres transacted on the Ruhr market were accounted for by companies in this category.

Although take-up more than halved compared with the first half of 2024 (63,900 m²), Retail/Wholesale remained in second place with 23,900 m² or a 13 % share of total take-up.

Looking at the subcategories, "traditional retail" accounted for the largest share of retail space take-up in H1 2025 with 14,700 m² (62 %). By contrast, deals concluded by e-commerce companies slumped sharply in H1 2025. While 63,900 m² of space was let in the first half of 2024, accounting for 100 % of retail take-up, e-commerce space take-up in the first half of 2025 was only 9,200 m².

"With an accumulated share of 88 %, it is clear that the Logistics/Distribution and Retail/Wholesale dominate the market," summarises Bülent Alemdag. "However, the delta in e-commerce transactions is 54,700 m² or minus 86 % compared to the first half of last year. The decline is underscored by the absence of any large lease agreements in this category in the Ruhr region in the first half of 2025."

The Manufacturing sector remains in third place in the current first half of the year with 15,100 m²or 8 %. Compared to the previous year's figure of 14,900 m²or 9 %, this represents virtually no change. The collective category "Other" remains unchanged in last place with 6,400 m^² or 4 % (H1 2024: 9,000 m²or 5 %).

Looking at all sectors as a whole, it is evident that in three out of four cases, the respective 5-year average for the first half of the year was not achieved. The Logistics/Distribution sector is an exception, exceeding the average value of 107,718 m² by a significant 29 %. In the same period last year, this category was still 34 % below the five-year average. In the other sectors, however, the average value for the last five half-years was missed by at least 9 %. The largest deviation was recorded in the Retail/Wholesale sector, whose current take-up fell 63 % short of the five-year average of 64,748 m².

Size category 10,001 m² and above remains in first place
The size category of 10,001 m² and above remains in first place with 132,400 m² or a 72 % share of total space take-up. The top deals by JD Logistics, Nordlicht, Shaoke Logistics GmbH and Bayer AG, with a combined total of 121,900 m², accounted for 92 % of take-up in this segment in the first half of 2025. This means that around three out of every four square metres taken up in the first half of 2025 were in this size category.

By contrast, take-up in the 5,001–10,000 m² size category rose significantly. Starting from 13,000 m² or 8 %, the cumulative result improved to 22,600 m² or 12 %, which corresponds to an increase of 9,600 m² and represents the largest absolute and percentage increase among all size categories at +74%.

Units in the size category between 3,001 and 5,000 m² accounted for 19,900 m² and showed no significant change compared with the first half of 2024 (19,500 m²). With an 11 % share of total space take-up, this category ranks third, dropping one place.

Smaller to medium-sized units between 1,000 and 3,000 m² achieved take-up of 9,500 m² in the first half of 2025 and remained in fourth place with a 5 % share.

Very small spaces under 1,000 m² once again played no significant role in market activity.

Rental prices stagnate for the time being
The prime rent on the owner-occupied and rental market for logistics and industrial properties in the Ruhr region remains unchanged at €7.75/m² compared with the first half of 2024. This is remarkable, given that prime rents have risen continuously since 2018.

The same applies to the average rent, which has risen steadily since H1 2021 and is currently at the same level as the same period last year at €6.50/m².

Outlook
"At just under 184,000 m², the current letting performance is very weak – in good times, we have seen figures between 400,000 and 500,000 m². We are a long way from that in 2025. In addition, vacancies are increasing. Even in the Duisburg area near the terminal, it is becoming more difficult to let space. This was last the case in 2009/2010 due to the financial market crisis," says Bülent Alemdag, assessing the current situation. "Rents that have risen over the last ten years are also causing difficulties in re-letting. Anyone who recently signed a lease for 5 euros per square metre will find it difficult to pay 7.50 euros per square metre for the same property now."

Presse 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.