The 2016/2017 Stuttgart office market report

Record figures for all of Germany.
In 2016 office space take-up in Germany’s Top 7 locations (Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne,
Munich and Stuttgart) totalled approx. 3.9 million m². This record-breaking figure represents an
increase of over 10 % in comparison to the previous year (31.12.2015: approx. 3.5 million m²). Major
corporations such as Daimler, Deutsche Bahn, Axel Springer, BMW and Robert Bosch played a key role
in this development. As in 2015 the owner-occupier share accounted for some 9 %, whereby Stuttgart had
the highest percentage of owner-occupiers at approx. 30 %.
Berlin and Stuttgart lead
Berlin was the front runner, with take-up
of some 820,000 m². The highest
gains over the previous year were
achieved by Stuttgart with an increase
of approx. 49 %. Cologne followed with
figures which were some 41 % up over
2015, with the amalgamation of insurance
company Zurich Versicherung’s
offices in Bonn and Cologne (around
60,000 m²) playing a major role in
this. The next-highest ranked city was
Frankfurt, with a plus of approx. 36 %.
The largest letting contract, concluded
with Deutsche Bahn, was for some
45,000 m². Hamburg and Munich improved
their performance by 1 % respectively
2 %. Due to a lower number
of major transactions Düsseldorf, in
contrast, was not able to match its performance
of the previous year. As was
the case for Stuttgart the fourth quarter
proved to the strongest nationwide.
38,50 €/m 2 in Frankfurt
The highest prime rents were achieved
in Frankfurt (€ 38.50/m²) and
Munich (€35.25/m²). Berlin saw its prime
rent increase to € 27.50/m²; Düsseldorf
achieved a figure of € 26.50/
m²; Hamburg € 25.00/m² and Berlin
€ 23.50/m². The highest growth in prime
rent was achieved by Hamburg
(4 %). Prime rents in Stuttgart and
Cologne were € 23.00/m² respectively €
21.50/m². Almost all cities experienced
increases in their average rents.
The best figures were achieved by
Frankfurt (€ 18.50/m²) and Berlin
(€ 16.10/m²), followed by Hamburg
and Munich, each at € 15.50/m².
The figures for Düsseldorf and Cologne
were similar at € 14.40/m² and
€ 14.30/m². At € 12.90/m² the lowest
average rent was in Stuttgart.
Supply scarce in southern Germany
At the close of 2016 the total volume of
vacant space was approx. 4.9 million m²
and thus 7 % lower than in the previous
year. In terms of total existing office space
this equates to a vacancy rate of 5.4 %.
The highest declines in vacant space were
experienced in Stuttgart (19 %) and Berlin
(12 %). The lowest vacancy rate was
in Stuttgart at approx. 2.8 %, followed
by Munich at 3.7 %. In both cities vacant
office space was particularly scarce in the
city centre. The expected completion of
projects in 2017 and 2018 will do very
little to relieve the lack of vacant space
since large amounts of the total volume
of 2.3 million m² of newly constructed
space have already been pre-let. The highest
completion figures were achieved
in Berlin (approx. 464,000 m²), Hamburg
(some 418,000 m²) and Frankfurt (around
410,400 m²).