The past year ranks last in a five-year comparison. In a 10-year comparison, only the 2015 result of 257,000 m² and the 2014 result of 210,000 m² were lower. The long-term average of 614,166 m² was missed by a significant 26.7%.

“One piece of good news from the Ruhr area is that deals for new builds were at a similarly high level compared to the previous year and, despite the general reluctance on the part of project developers, were even up year-on-year in absolute terms,” reports Bülent Alemdag, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien GmbH. Since it was founded in 2007, the consulting firm has served the top three logistics markets in NRW, including the Ruhr area, with a team of 11 based in Düsseldorf.

In 2023, new buildings contributed 248,600 m² or a share of 55.2% (2022: 238,502 m² or 45.9%), achieving absolute year-on-year growth of 10,098 m² or 4%.

In second place are lettings in existing properties, which accounted for 201,800 m² or 44.8%, down from 245,488 m² or 47.3% in 2022, which marks the most significant absolute decline across all categories (new build, existing property, brownfield) with a drop of 43,688 m² or 18%. Brownfields played no role in the past year as a whole after achieving 35,440 m² or 6.8% in the previous year.

Deals in big box properties dominated the market in 2023, accounting for 72.6% of the market at 326,800 m² (2022: 403,197 m² or 77.6%). Although they were the only category to experience an absolute decline, they still held on to the top position with 76,397 m² (down 18.9%).

Biggest deals

Deals in properties that are neither big boxes nor business parks are in second place, accounting for 105,400 m² or 23.4% (2022: 99,638 m² or 19.2%) and thus achieving a slight increase (up 5,762 m² or 5.8%).

In last place are deals in business parks, which continue to play the least important role in the Ruhr area with a contribution of 18,200 m² or 4%, up from 16,595 m² or 3.2% (slight growth of 1,605 m² or 9.7%).

The Ruhr area continues to be predominantly a lessor’s market, with 423,400 m² or 94% of take-up almost entirely accounted for by leases (2022: 419,430 m² or 80.7%). At 27,000 m² or 6%, owner-occupier leases fell by 73,000 m² or 73% in absolute terms and by 13.3 percentage points in relative terms compared to the previous year, when they still accounted for 100,000 m² or 19.3%.

Sector ranking: Logistics/distribution accounts for more than half

Logistics/distribution was again the strongest sector in 2023. Contributing 232,800 m² or 51.7%, this sector accounts for more than half of take-up in the Ruhr area (2022: 267,623 m² or 51.5%), meaning that its importance remains at the same high level despite a decline of around 35,000 m² or 13% in absolute terms.

Retail takes second place with 111,800 m² or 24.8%, occupying the same position in the rankings as in the previous year when it contributed 218,774 m² or 42.1%. With a delta of 106,974 m² or 48.9%, the retail sector accounted for only slightly more than half of the previous year’s take-up and lost the most space of all sectors in absolute terms. The shortfall of 59.7% on the retail sector’s five-year average of 277,000 m² was the largest across all sectors.

Within the sector, the sub-categories of traditional retail and e-commerce swapped places in the Ruhr area in the year-on-year comparison. In 2023, traditional retail led the way with 71,300 m² or 63.8% (2022: 98,702 m² or 45.1%). E-commerce achieved take-up of only 40,500 m² or 36.2% (2022: 120,000 m² or 54.9%). The delta here is around 80,000 m² or 66.3%, meaning that the result constitutes only a third of the previous year’s take-up.

In third place is the miscellaneous “Other” category with a contribution of 62,700 m² or 13.9% (2022: 11,916 m² or 2.3%) and the largest growth of all the sectors in absolute terms with an increase of 50,784 m² or 426% (corresponding to a more than five-fold increase).

After occupying third place in 2022, manufacturing brings up the rear, accounting for 43,100 m² or 9.6%, but can boast absolute growth of 21,983 m² or 104.1%, up from 21,117 m² or 4.1%.

Take-up of large spaces down by more than 26%

In 2023, the Ruhr area continued to be dominated by new leases for large spaces of 10,001 m² or more, which accounted for 326,900 m² or almost three out of every four square metres of take up, after 443,836 m² or 85.4% in the previous year.

“Despite their leading role, large spaces lost the most take-up out of all categories,” reports Bülent Alemdag. The year-on-year decline was 116,936 m² or 26.3%.

The size category between 5,001 and 10,000 m² accounted for 83,900 m² or 18.6%, once again putting it in second place. Coming from 41,978 m² or 8.1%, this development marks a significant absolute increase of around 42,000 m², which is double the previous year’s figure.

The category of medium-sized space between 3,001 and 5,000 m² is in third place with take-up of 21,400 m² or 4.8% (2022: 10,926 m² or 2.1%). Smaller to medium-sized spaces between 1,000 and 3,000 m² accounted for 16,100 m² or 3.6% of take-up (2022: 18,560 m² or also 3.6%). Small areas of less than 1,000 m² contributed only 2,100 m², equivalent to a share of 0.5%.

Significant increase in average rents

The rise in prime rents continued with an increase of 11.5% to EUR 7.25/m² compared to EUR 6.50/m² at the end of 2022. The five-year average of EUR 5.92/m² was thus exceeded by 22.5%.

Average rents also rose with a much more dynamic increase than in prime rents but of 16.2% to EUR 6.10/m², up from EUR 5.25/m² in 2022. The five-year average of EUR 4.71/m² was exceeded by 29.5%.

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 2022 Realogis generated nearly 1.25 million m² of usable space alone in the letting segment (preliminary result). The net commission revenue of all services in the financial year 2022 are EUR 22.74 million (preliminary result).

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/