These and other results are provided in the latest market report by Realogis, Germany's leading consultancy for industrial, logistics and commercial properties."The entire take-up of space in the months from January to June 2024 is attributable to existing lettings. There was no market activity for new builds or developments on former brownfield sites," comments Joel Adam, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Stuttgart GmbH.

In the previous year, new builds on greenfield sites contributed 7,000 m² or 8.2 %, 24 months ago the figure was as high as 39,300 m² or 46.2 %. Brownfield sites, on the other hand, have not played a role in recent years.

As in the first six months of 2023 and 2022, the Stuttgart market for industrial and logistics properties did not see any owner-occupier transactions and was therefore purely a tenants' market.

Regional ranking: Böblingen remains weak
As in the previous year, the district of Esslingen again contributed the largest share of total take-up with 23,200 m² or 35.6 % (H1 2023: 16,200 m² or 29 %). At +7,000 m² or +43.2 %, this represents the second most significant increase of all regions, but is not enough to reach the 5-year average. This is 30,200 m², which is 23.2 % below the average.

The district of Esslingen is closely followed in second place by the previously third-placed district of Ludwigsburg with 21,600 m² or 33.1 %. After 11,000 m² or 19.7 %, take-up here increased most significantly, almost doubling to 10,600 m² or 96.4 %.

The district of Ludwigsburg, like all regions with the exception of Göppingen, also fell short of the 5-year average by 24.9 % (28,780 m²).

Göppingen is in third place (previously 4th place) with 12,600 m² or 19.3 %, which corresponds to an increase of 5,300 m² or 72.6 % (previous year: 7,300 m² or 13.1 %). The increase in take-up is attributable to two top lettings, including Natura GmbH with 6,500 m² and a trade fair construction company with 5,000 m². Göppingen, which tends to have lower take-up than the other regions, is currently the only region to exceed the 5-year average of 5,640 m² (+123.4 %).

Lessors with the highest take-up in H1 2024

The district of Böblingen follows with 3,200 m² or 4.9 % (H1 2023: 2,700 m² or 4.8 %). The 5-year average for this submarket of 18,900 m² is clearly missed by 83.1 %. Rems-Murr-Kreis comes in at 2,800 m² or 4.3 % (H1 2023: 5,600 m² or 10 %; the 5-year average is 7,180 m² and was undercut by 61 %).

The Stuttgart city area brought up the rear, coming in second place in the previous year with 13,000 m² or 23.3 %. With a current take-up of 1,800 m² or 2.8 % in the first six months of 2024, this is almost a total loss (-86.2 %). The Stuttgart city area also has a relatively low 5-year average of 5,820 m² and, like the Rems-Murr district, was of secondary importance for the market in the past five first half-years. In the past six months, however, this figure was significantly undercut by 69.1 %.

"The regions of Böblingen district, Rems-Murr district and Stuttgart city area have a low market share in the first half of 2024. In the same period of the previous year, it was still 38.2 per cent in total, currently it is only 12 per cent," says Joel Adam.

Industry ranking: logistics/distribution remains cautious
In terms of sectors, the retail sector remains the undisputed biggest demand for space in 2024 with 24,800 m² or 38% after 17,000 m² or 30.5%. At 7,800 m² or 45.9 %, this result represents the second strongest growth of all sectors, but is not enough to reach the 5-year average of 31,622 m², which will be missed by 22 %.

At 18,700 m², three quarters of take-up (75.4 %; H1: 17,000 m² or 100 %) was accounted for by the classic retail subgroup, an increase of 1,700 m² or 10 %. The 5-year average of 21,575 m² is still 13 % short. One of the top deals in H1 2024 is the letting of 6,500 m² by Natura GmbH, which contributes 26.2 % to take-up in the retail sector and 35 % to the classic retail sub-category.

The e-commerce sub-category gained 6,100 m² and contributed 24.6 % of take-up in the retail category (H1 2023: 0 m²), but missed its 5-year average by 66 % (17,750 m²).

Just behind the retail sector in second place and thus one place higher is the manufacturing sector with 24,500 m² or 37.6 % (H1 2023: 13,200 m² or 23.7 %). At 11,300 m² or +85.6 %, this corresponds to the highest growth of all sectors. At the same time, manufacturing is the only sector to exceed the 5-year average of 22,548 m² by 9 %. The largest contract signed by a company in the manufacturing sector accounted for 8,600 m² or 35.1 %.

In third place comes the miscellaneous category "Supply/others" with 13,600 m² or 20.9 %, followed by 16,600 m² or 29.7 %. This corresponds to a decrease of 3,000 m² or 18.1 % and is 10 % below the 5-year average of 15,108 m².

Logistics/distribution remained in last place with 2,300 m² or 3.5 %, down from 9,000 m² or 16.1 %. This is by far the most significant year-on-year decline of all sectors, totalling -74.4% or 6,700 m². The 5-year average of 27,242 m² was missed by a clear 92 %. This makes the first half of 2024 an unusually weak first half for the logistics/ distribution sector.

Size classes: Complete breakdown of the 10,000 units
"In the first six months of the current year, we could not record one large-space transactions of 10,001 m² or more. After 14,000 m² in the previous year, this is the sharpest decline of all size categories. The 5-year average is 30,720 m², which would have boosted the overall result for the first half of the year. In the last five first half-years, there has always been at least one deal in this category," says Joel Adam.

Units between 5,001 and 10,000 m² contributed 23,200 m² or 35.6 % to take-up, moving up two places from third place with 12,824 m² (second most significant increase of all size categories of 10,376 m² or 80.9 %). They fell only moderately short of the 5-year average of 24,845 m² by 6.6 %. Two of the top deals fall into this category and account for 15,100 m² or 65 % of take-up in this size category.

Space between 3,001 and 5,000 m² came in second place in the first half of 2024 with 20,500 m² or 31.4 %, up from 4,300 m² or 7.7 % and thus improved by three ranks. The result marks the highest absolute growth of 16,200 m², more than quadrupling the previous year's result. At the same time, the five-year average of 19,300 m² was exceeded by 6.2 %, the most significant increase of any size category. Around a quarter is attributable to the 5,000 m² taken up by stand constructors.

After ranking first with 15,576 m² or 27.9 %, small to medium-sized spaces between 1,000 and 3,000 m² are now only in third place with 16,500 m² or 25.3 % and on a par with the 5-year average of 16,315 m² (exceeding this by 2 %).

Micro-space of less than 1,000 m² contributes around 5,000 m² or 7.7 % to take-up; coming in at 9,100 m² or 16.3 %, this is the second sharpest decline of 4,100 m² or 45.1 %, but falls short of the 5-year average of 5,340 m² by only 6.4 %.

Prime and average rents take a breather
A clear sideways movement can be seen in both prime rents and average rents. After years of rent increases, the prime rent is currently stagnating at €8.40/m², but is 10.8% above the 5-year average of €7.58/m².

The average rent is also stagnating at €6.90/m² and is therefore 14.6% above the 5-year average of €6.02/m².

Outlook
"We assume that the Stuttgart industrial and logistics property market will pick up speed as the year progresses. Nevertheless, we do not expect a record result," predicts Joel Adam.

REALOGIS press contact:
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
Leopoldstraße 154, 80804 München
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. The net commission revenue of all services in the financial year 2023 are around EUR 19 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.

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In short, REALOGIS creates more room for its customers’ success in every sense. Further information: https://www.realogis.de/