DESPITE THE UNFAVORABLE CONDITIONS: OFFICE TAKE-UP ABOVE PREVIOUS YEAR'S LEVEL
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The German office markets were able to successfully escape the persistently weak economic environment for long periods at the end of 2024. Over the course of the year, office take-up increased from quarter to quarter, with Germany's main office locations of Berlin, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig and Munich recording total annual take-up of 2.66 million sqm.
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This result is a good 2% above the previous year's level, but clearly falls short of the long-term average of 3.45 million sqm. Although take-up in all office markets remains below average for the entire year, the market confirms the catch-up and stabilization trends observed since the summer. With take-up of 606,000 sqm, Munich is not only the market with the highest take-up nationwide, but also the only office market to exceed the 600,000 sqm mark. Although the result is once again below the long-term average, very stable quarterly take-up figures with an overall upward trend contributed to an increase of almost 30% compared to the weak previous year. No other location has seen such a significant increase in take-up. In addition to higher take-up in the small and medium-sized space segment, major deals made the difference in Munich last year.
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On the Berlin market a gradual increase in quarterly take-up was observed since spring, so that a result of 581,000 sqm (+7% year-on-year) can be reported at the end of 2024. Hamburg follows far behind with take-up of 420,000 sqm (-7% year-on-year). Frankfurt saw very stable quarterly take-up results and a renewed increase in the large-scale sector (doubling to 52,000 sqm). This led in an overall result of 398,000 sqm in the Main metropolis, matching previous-year’s volume (+1%). Cologne and Düsseldorf, the major cities on the Rhine, experienced different market trends, although they were on par in terms of take-up.