The logistics property market developed more strongly than expected in 2024. The holistic consulting firm Logivest reports a new construction volume of around 4.4 million square metres after evaluating its own research data as part of the annual logistics property seismograph. The time of measurement is always the ground-breaking ceremony.
This corresponds to an increase of over 15 per cent compared to the previous year. With almost 1.4 million square metres, the strongest quarter was the second quarter, which also saw the ground-breaking ceremony for the largest project in 2024.
The new Mercedes-Benz logistics centre in Bischweier in the district of Rastatt covers around 130,000 square metres and is being built by Panattoni on a brownfield site. Another top project is the Log Plaza in Frankfurt Oder, which is currently being developed by Alcaro without pre-letting. The go-ahead for a 90,000 square metre section of this business park was given in 2024. The logistics centre ‘The Space’, which BentallGreenOak is building in Halle an der Saale, also comprises just under 90,000 square metres.
‘The logistics property market has developed positively in terms of new construction activity - contrary to the overall economic situation in Germany. The increase in speculative new builds in particular shows the optimism and confidence in this asset class,’ says Kuno Neumeier, CEO of Logivest. The property expert sees the fact that rents have fallen significantly in some cases, especially in the prime segment, as a sign of a healthy market: ‘In 2023, we still had a prime rent of around EUR 16 per square metre in the Munich region. In 2024, we are still at a high but much more realistic level of around EUR 14 per square metre.’
Leipzig/Halle again at the top
There is little change in the top three logistics regions. As in 2023, Leipzig/Halle will again take the lead in 2024 with a total of around 465,000 square metres. Cologne Bay follows with around 335,000 square metres, returning to the top spot, as does the Duisburg/Lower Rhine region, which takes third place of the 24 top logistics regions with a good 290,000 square metres. Bringing up the rear are the Nuremberg, Dresden/Chemnitz and Würzburg / Schweinfurt regions. However, for the first time this year, no region has less than 30,000 square metres of new build space.
The Upper Rhine region may surprise with its best result by far in the last five years with around 200,000 square metres of new developments. The basis for this is the top project of the year - the Mercedes-Benz logistics centre in Bischweier. And while the Munich region returned to the top 10 with around 135,000 square metres, Berlin slipped from the top three to 16th place with around 105,000 square metres.
Opportunities and challenges in 2025/26
The logistics property market has regained stability in 2024 and the project pipeline will continue to grow in the coming years. Logivest has again recorded around 13 million square metres of projected new logistics space for 2025/26, of which around 2.6 million square metres are already in concrete user negotiations.
‘The data once again impressively shows that logistics properties are still an attractive asset class and a good investment,’ says Neumeier. But he also recognises the challenges: ‘The upcoming elections in February 2025 and the further development of the German economy are causing uncertainty. It also remains to be seen how the market will deal with insolvencies and consolidations.’ However, every change also brings opportunities, so Neumeier hopes ‘that a possible reduction in bureaucracy will also help us to make further progress in terms of sustainability - a topic that continues to dominate the logistics property sector.’