Of all the top 8 locations, the Frankfurt market for industrial and logistics properties for owner-occupation and rental once again made the largest contribution to the overall annual result: 19% or 423,300 m² was accounted for by this region. It was again followed by the Ruhr region with 15% and 345,600 m². The Düsseldorf market moved up three places to third place with 319,500 m² or 14%.

The Berlin market leads the midfield, although at 295,300 m² or 13% it has dropped one place compared to the previous year. Cologne is in fifth place with 278,000 m² or 12% (up three places), closely followed by Hamburg with 275,000 m² or 12% (down two places). The industrial and logistics property market in Munich saw take-up of 229,600 m² or 10% and Stuttgart came in last from seventh place with 125,200 m² or 5%.

The increases in Cologne and Düsseldorf were unable to compensate for the total decline in the other markets totalling 374,300 m². Six out of eight markets recorded a year-on-year decline in take-up, with an accumulated annual difference of 212,000 m² compared to the previous year. The Ruhr area (104,800 m² in absolute terms, or 28% share of the delta), Stuttgart (-92,400 m², 25% share of the delta) and Berlin (-76,700 m², or 20% share of the delta) were the main areas of decline.

Existing properties hold their own, new construction on greenfield sites down 32%, brownfield sites up 67%
As in the same period of the previous year, the top markets were characterised by new transactions in existing properties: Existing properties accounted for more than two thirds of total take-up, or 1.56 million m². This take-up therefore remained at a similar level to the previous year (FY 2023: 1.6 million m²).

New builds on greenfield sites accounted for 520,400 m² or 23% of take-up, which is the largest year-on-year decline of all building categories (-249,000 m² or -32%; FY 2023: 769,400 m).

"Against the backdrop of continued uncertainty as to how the economy and its framework conditions will continue to develop, investors and project developers remained reluctant to construct new speculative buildings. At the same time, subletting increased significantly due to a surplus of space among existing tenants," comments Julian Petri, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Frankfurt GmbH.

By contrast, the use of space on revitalised brownfield sites increased to a take-up of 215,300 m², expanding its share by 86,100 m² or 67% and achieving a market share of 9% in 2024.

"In recent years, brownfield developments have attracted increasing attention from all parties involved - municipalities and local authorities, investors, project developers and users. The former brownfield sites have ensured that well-connected areas are being returned to the economic and property cycle," explains Alexander Ego, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Berlin GmbH.

Big box properties stable, business parks await further impetus
Big box logistics space, i.e. large modern logistics spaces of 10,000 m² or more, accounted for almost every second square metre taken up in 2024 (49% or 1.13 million m²). Coming from 1.15 million m², this is a moderate decrease of 20,300 m² or 2%. Of all building categories, this is the smallest decline, which is almost equivalent to a sideways movement. Although all building types recorded declining take-up, large properties were the most stable here.

Properties that are neither big boxes nor business parks are again in second place with 640,700 m² or 28%, down from 727,100 m² or 27% (-86,400 m² or -12%).

The most significant slump was recorded by business parks with -105,300 m² or -17% to currently 523,300 m², down from 628,600 m².

In terms of users of industrial and logistics space, the top locations are predominantly rental markets: 95% of total take-up, or around 2.19 m², was accounted for by tenants, while only 5%, or 105,200 m², was taken up by owner-occupiers. Transactions by owner-occupiers were only observed in Frankfurt with 58,500 m², Hamburg with 35,000 m² and Berlin with 11,400 m².

Sector ranking: Retail/Wholesale increases by 33% and leads ahead of Logistics/Distribution
Retail/Wholesale moved up from second place in 2024 to top the sector ranking with 861,900 m² or 37%, topping its previous year's result by 215,300 m² or 33% (FY 2023: 646,600 m² or 26%).

The 5-year average for the Retail/Wholesale top category, which currently stands at 1.01 million m², was undercut by 20%.

Both sub-categories - e-commerce and traditional retail - were at a comparable level, although the decrease in space by traditional retail companies, with a share of 53% or 460,400 m², is slightly ahead (+103,800 m² year-on-year or +29%) of e-commerce companies with 401,500 m² or 47% (+111,500 m² or 38%). While e-commerce is currently at the same level as its 5-year average (1% above), traditional retail is 11% below the 5-year average of 519,000 m².

The Logistics/Distribution sector was no longer able to reach its top position with 730,600 m² or 32%, down from 1.05 million m² or 42%, and suffered a significant slump in take-up of 316,900 m² or -30%. This is also reflected in the 5-year average of 1.18 million m², which fell short by 38% or 448,000 m² in absolute terms.

At 452,900 m² or 20%, the Manufacturing sector continued to be a stable buyer of space in 2024. Coming from 486,300 m² or 19% in 2023, the decline is moderate at 33,400 m² or 7%. However, the 5-year average of 542,000 m² was missed by 16%.

Companies that could not be allocated to any of the aforementioned sectors again came in last place with 246,100 m² or 11%, down from 323,100 m² or 13%, which corresponds to a delta of 77,000 m² or 24%.

Ranking of size categories: 1 million m² accounted for by large spaces
Large spaces of 10,001 m² or more remain the most sought-after in the top 8 locations: they accounted for a total of around 1 million m² or 44% of take-up in 2024. Coming from 1.2 million m² or 48% (-4 percentage points), the absolute decrease corresponds to 209,950 m² or 17%.

Largest deals in the top 8 locations in 2024

Larger spaces between 5,001 and 10,000 m² are again in second place with 443,400 m² or 19%, followed by 503,700 m² or 20% (-60,300 m² or -12%).

"With a total take-up of around 1.5 million m² and a 63% share of total take-up, all spaces of 5,001 m² and above continued to dominate the market and only lost 5 percentage points in terms of their share of take-up compared to 2023 with a take-up of 1.7 million m²," commented Nicolas Werner, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien München GmbH.

Medium to large spaces between 3,001 and 5,000 m² accounted for 339,100 m² or 15%, up from 245,250 m² or 10% (4th place as in 2023). They achieved an increase in importance of 5 percentage points and the most significant absolute growth of 93,850 m² or +38%.

Small to medium-sized spaces between 1,000 - 3,000 m² accumulated the third most space with 365,800 m² or 16%, coming from 417,800 m² or 17% (decrease of 52,000 m² or 12%).

Micro space increased its prior-year result by 16,400 m² or 14% to 135,800 m² or 6% (FY 2023: 119,400 m² or 5%).

Prime rents: Predominantly slight increase or sideways movement
Prime rents for industrial and logistics properties continued to stabilise in 2024. Only one location recorded an increase of more than 5%, while three markets remained at the previous year's level:

• 1st place: Munich remains the most expensive location at €11/m² (+2%; FY 2023: €10.80/m²)
• 2nd place: Berlin with €9.90/m² (+1%; FY 2023: €9.85/m²)
• 3rd place: Stuttgart with € 8.50/m² (+ 1%; FY 2023: € 8.40/m²)
• 4th place: Hamburg and Düsseldorf at €8.25/m² each (sideways movement for both markets)
• 6th place: Frankfurt at € 8.10/m² (+ 3%, second highest increase; FY 2023: € 7.90/m²)
• 7th place: Cologne at €8.00/m² (sideways movement)
• 8th place: Ruhr area at €7.75/m² (+ 7%, highest price increase; FY 2023: €7.25/m²; but cheapest market of all top 8 locations)

Average rent: Four markets increase in price by more than 5%
Average rents for industrial and logistics properties recorded a more dynamic development than prime rents in 2024. There was neither stagnation nor a decline, with four markets recording an increase in rents of more than 5%:

• 1st place: Munich is again the most expensive location in terms of average rent at €8.50/m² (+8%; FY 2023: €7.85/m²)
• 2nd place: Berlin is again in second place at €7.90/m², up 1% from €7.80/m²
• 3rd place: Stuttgart (+ 1%; FY 2023: € 6.90/m²) and Düsseldorf (+ 8%; FY 2023: € 6.50/m²)
• 5th place: Cologne with € 6.85/m² (+ 9%, highest price increase; FY 2023: € 6.30/m²)
• 6th place Ruhr region with € 6.50/m² (+7%; FY 2023: € 6.10/m²)
• 7th place: Hamburg with € 6.25/m² (+2%; FY 2023: € 6.10/m²)

Press contact REALOGIS:
SH/Communication - Agency for Public Relations
Silke Westermann
Phone: +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. 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 and stands for 20 years of success. 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 the 2023 financial year, Realogis' audited net commission revenue across all services was around 15.76 million euros. In the lettings segment alone, the group generated a turnover of 982,232 m² in 2023, which corresponds to 16.5% of the total space turnover of all market participants in Germany in that year and also represents a doubling of Realogis' market share since 2016.

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.