Around 1.7 million square metres of new-build space in the first two quarters of 2025 / Swabia logistics region positions itself at the top for the first time / Light Industrial gains significant relevance
With around 1.7 million square metres of new construction, the German logistics property market has recorded its weakest half-year result in the last five years. This was reported by the holistic logistics property consultant Logivest after analysing its own research data. The data is always based on the time of the ground-breaking ceremony.
"With around 850,000 square metres in the first quarter and just under 830,000 square metres in the second quarter, we cannot continue the positive trends of 2024. With a grey market of around three million square metres and vacancies in existing properties of over eight million square metres, new-build developments are under massive competitive pressure," says Neumeier. However, even though the half-year figures in recent years have been well above the two million mark in some cases, it is important for the expert not to talk about a market slump. "If you look at the figures for the last ten years, you can see that we have simply fallen to a pre-corona level. We had a similar result in 2019 - in some cases, we were even significantly lower in previous years."
Swabia takes top position
LV Graphic New construction volume 2025 H1 year-on-year comparisonThere is a surprise among the top logistics regions in the first half of the year. The Swabia region - previously in the bottom third - has made it to the top. With around 210,000 square metres, the region more than doubled its result from 2024 in the first half of the year. A project by Dietz AG in Langenau is the main reason for this. At around 63,000 square metres, the built-to-suit property is the third-largest development for the winkler group of companies in the first half of the year. However, the speculative development by Frasers Property Industrial in Günzburg also contributed to the region's top ranking with around 50,000 square metres spread across several halls.
Second place goes to the Berlin/Brandenburg logistics region, which also almost doubled its annual result from 2024 with 190,000 square metres of new build space. The largest current project in the region is Panattoni Park Berlin Ost II in Grünheide with around 55,000 square metres, followed by the MLP Group's speculative development in Spreenhagen with just under 35,000 square metres. In third place comes Duisburg/Lower Rhine, one of the absolute top regions, with a solid half-year result of around 175,000 square metres. With just under 72,000 square metres, the MLP Business Park Schalke is not only the largest development in the region, but currently in the whole of Germany.
While Munich and Central Germany no longer make it into the top ten, the Upper Rhine region remains in the top third in the first half of 2025. The second-largest project in the first half of the year - a development of around 65,000 square metres by Logad GmbH for Galaxus in Neuchâtel - is the decisive factor. The Swiss online retailer is thus expanding its site to a total of around 90,000 square metres.
Light Industrial gains in importance
The outlook for the light industrial market is positive. At around 310,000 square metres[1], it has already recorded a significant increase on the previous year's result. The largest project here is Körber Technologies' own development of around 50,000 square metres in Hamburg. In 2024, Logivest included the light industrial property category in its data for the first time, reflecting the growing market.
"The growing number of light industrial projects shows that Germany is still an attractive production location. And the pipeline for logistics properties is also still well filled. It now depends on how the global economy develops and how politicians in Germany, but above all in Europe, act," says Neumeier.
[1] Value relates purely to light industrial properties and is not included in the 1.7 million square metres of new construction.
