OFFICE MARKETS START THE YEAR MODERATELY AS EXPECTED
As expected, the German office markets have made a moderate start to 2023. Take-up in the eight locations of Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich amounted to 621,000 m² in the first quarter. Meaning both the previous year's result and the 10-year average were missed by a good fifth. The weakening economy as a result of the Ukraine war, which was already reflected towards the end of last year in less lettings and declining take-up, remains noticeable on the office markets in the first quarter of 2023. The decline, which at first glance appears to be significant, is of a similar magnitude to that seen, for example, at the beginning of 2009 in response to the global financial crisis and, as a temporary market reaction, can be attributed to an overall difficult environment and not to structural changes in demand.