Office market Germany

Executive Summary
 

SECOND-BEST RESULT OF ALL TIME: TAKE-UP OF ALMOST 4.1 MILLION M²

In 2019, the take-up of office space at the eight German locations of Berlin, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig and Munich totalled 4.08 million m². This was almost 2 % up on the previous year’s very good result.

VERY GOOD TAKE-UP ON ALL MAJOR OFFICE MARKETS

• Berlin is the undisputed leader among the German locations, with take-up of almost 1.02 million m² not only surpassing the previous year’s result by 22 % but also setting a new all-time record.
• This is the first time that any German city has reported take-up in excess of 1 million m².
• Munich ranks second on 770,000 m² (-20 %), followed by Frankfurt, on 635,000 m² (-6 %).
• Düsseldorf reported the strongest growth (+41 %) to achieve a new all-time high of 536,000 m².
   

VACANCY RATE DROPS BELOW 4 %

• The strong demand has led to a further decline in the volume of vacant space, which currently amounts to a good 3.68 million m² across all locations.
• The average vacancy rate across all cities has consequently dropped below the 4 % threshold, to 3.9 %.
• The lowest vacancy rates apply in Berlin (1.5 %), Munich (2.4 %), Cologne (2.8 %) and Essen (3.5 %).
• Just under 3.88 million m² of office space (+10 %) was under construction at the end of 2019. Only around 44 % of this total remains available to the market, however.

RENTS CONTINUE TO RISE, AS EXPECTED

• Prime rents have risen by just under 6 % on average across all the locations.
• The sharpest increases were reported in Berlin and Leipzig (+11 %), Cologne (+8 %), Hamburg (+7 %), Essen (+7 %) and Frankfurt (+2 %).
• In addition to the prime rents, the average rents have also risen markedly and are on average 5.5 % higher than in 2018.
   

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