As of September 2018, Galaxus Deutschland has rented a logistics area of around 6,000 square metres in the Krefeld-Fichtenhain industrial estate.
In the third quarter of 2018, new construction activity for logistics properties will remain at a constant high level of around 945,000 square meters. In comparison with approximately 900,000 square meters in the same quarter of the previous year and an above-average first half of 2018 with over two million square meters of new construction space, a new record is emerging for the year as a whole. The largest new construction activity in the third quarter was recorded in the Münster/Osnabrück region with 102,000 square metres. In the 2018 annual ranking, the Eastern Ruhr region continues to lead with approx. 320,000 square metres.
Since 2014, new construction activity for logistics space in Germany has been on the rise, averaging 3.4 million square meters per year. In order to reach the total volume of 3.8 million square metres of the previous year in 2018, an additional 610,000 square metres of new construction space would be required for the fourth quarter. "At around 2.3 million square metres, the first half of 2018 saw the strongest new construction activity in the last four years. Due to further announced major projects, which are currently being implemented, the total annual value will be above average", explains Kuno Neumeier, Managing Director of Logivest GmbH. On the other hand, the share of new buildings within Germany's top logistics regions fell slightly to 72 per cent. By comparison, this share was around 80 per cent in the previous quarters.
Top region Münster/Osnabrück exceeds previous year's result
The biggest winner of the past quarter in terms of new construction space is the Münster/Osnabrück region: of the 150,000 square metres, 102,000 square metres are used to build a highly automated logistics and production centre for a kitchen furniture manufacturer. This figure already exceeds the region's new construction volume of 140,000 square metres in 2017 as a whole. The Rhine-Main region was also successful, expanding its provisional annual figure of just under 200,000 square metres in the third quarter by developing 100,000 square metres. With a view to 2018 as a whole, the top logistics region of the Eastern Ruhr Area continues to hold the top position in the ranking with around 320,000 square metres.
Trade occupies largest logistics real estate area
With regard to the individual user sectors, the retail sector recorded a disproportionately high share of new construction space in the first three quarters of the year, at around 37 percent. In 2017, this share was still 33 percent. This shift is to the detriment of logistics service providers, who currently only take up 30 percent of new construction space - compared with 41 percent in 2017 as a whole. Compared to the previous year, however, the industrial sector currently accounts for 33 percent, compared with 26 percent for a very high figure.
