STABLE DEVELOPMENT ON THE OFFICE MARKETS: TAKE-UP AT PRIOR YEAR'S LEVEL
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German office markets experienced a stable trend in H1 2024 despite ongoing lacklustre economic activity. Take-up came to 1.26 million sqm in the first 6 months of 2024, roughly on par with previous-year results (1.23 million sqm). While take-up in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig and Munich remained significantly below the long-term average, the yoy comparison in these office strongholds proved varied as large-scale leases continued to make the difference in this market phase.
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Munich posted the highest office take-up at mid-year. Although the city’s result of 293,000 sqm is a good 15% below the long-term average, Munich managed to outperform the previous year’s result by an impressive 24%. An already strong start to the year was followed by an even more dynamic Q2 with take-up of 153,000 sqm, including one of the largest leases signed nationwide in the quarter. Market activity in Berlin and Frankfurt also came in below average in a long-term comparison, but up on the previous year. Take-up in the German capital came to 281,000 sqm in the first half of the year, reflecting a delta with the long-term average of around 20% but exceeding the previous year’s result by a good 7%. The yoy increase in take-up can mainly be attributed to large-scale leases signed in the space segment of more than 10,000 sqm. Berlin registered more leases signed in this space segment than any other top location in Germany. Frankfurt came in third, seeing take-up temporarily decline, in particular due to a lack of major leases signed in Q2. The city nevertheless posted an increase yoy (+13%) with 215,000 sqm in take-up, coming in only slightly below the long-term average (-5%).