In the third quarter, the Berlin office market picked up where it left off at the half-year mark: with a take-up of around 541,000 m², the capital not only far surpassed the fragmented market activity seen in the same period last year (+49 per cent), but even matched the ten-year average (538,000 m²; +1 per cent). It is also worth noting that, particularly for the past two quarters, take-up figures have been significantly above average for the period under review since 2022. This reflects the overall positive trend in demand throughout 2026. These findings are based on an analysis by BNP Paribas Real Estate.
“A look at the other leading office markets makes it clear that this encouraging trend should not be taken for granted: at the end of September, Berlin once again emerged as the market with the highest turnover and is, at the same time, the only location to have slightly exceeded its long-term average,” explains Jan Dohrwardt, Managing Director and Head of the Berlin office of BNP Paribas Real Estate GmbH. The key driver behind the strong quarterly performance over the last three months was the largest deal of the year to date: BNPPRE successfully assisted Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) with the relocation of its headquarters to a site near Berlin’s Ostkreuz (39,400 m²).
Evidence that the market recovery has been broad-based can be seen in the results from the various office market zones. Consequently, the majority of sub-markets have recorded higher turnover compared with the Q1–Q3 results of the last three years.
Whilst there have been no further changes to the prime rent, the top segment continues to stabilise at the €47/m² level, which has now been recorded on several occasions.
Public sector ahead of ICT, total vacancy rate at 2.1 million m²
On the user side, demand is broadly diversified: the ‘Other’ category leads by a wide margin (just under 26 per cent), accounting for over a quarter of the total on its own. Among the sectors reported individually, public administration (around 18 per cent) and ICT (just over 17 per cent) were the most prominent. Both user groups secured major contracts: whilst the public sector contributed the owner-occupier deals involving the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (31,500 m²; Potsdamer/Leipziger Platz) and Berliner Stadtreinigung (16,500 m²; at Berlin’s Südkreuz), the ICT sector includes, amongst others, the lease to JetBrains (18,500 m²; Friedrichshain). In the ICT sector in particular, it is also worth noting the high number of small and medium-sized deals spread across the entire market area.
The supply of space has remained roughly at the same level as at the middle of the year, meaning that the vacancy figure at the end of September still stood at just over 2.1 million m². By contrast, a year-on-year increase of just over 14 per cent has been recorded. This results in a current vacancy rate of 9.6 per cent for the market as a whole. Modern premises total 1.26 million m², which corresponds to a market share of 60 per cent and illustrates that there is generally a plentiful supply available in the modern premises segment. However, newly built premises ready for immediate occupancy in prime central locations are in extremely short supply.
Outlook
By the end of September, the Berlin office market had already surpassed its full-year 2025 result. Given that the full-year figures for 2024 (581,000 m²) and 2023 (541,000 m²) are also almost certain to be exceeded in Q4, the capital can expect to report at least its second-best performance of the last five years for 2026 (2022: 773,000 m²).
In addition to the strong underlying momentum in the small and medium-sized segment, there are still several enquiries for large-scale premises in the Berlin market area. Even if these potential revenue drivers are not finalised in the final quarter, they will already form a solid basis for demand at the start of 2027. The tech sector is the primary growth sector, whilst the public sector continues to feature prominently in the context of consolidation. However, even beyond these user groups, the demand situation across all size categories can be assessed as stable.
“Whilst there have recently been signs of stagnation in vacancy rates within the supply segment, the overall upward trend is likely to continue. Nevertheless, pressure on rents for premium space remains high, as the speculative new-build sector in prime locations, in particular, continues to decline. However, a short-term rise in prime rents is not expected. It remains to be seen how average rents will develop; despite high vacancy rates, they have recently risen, unlike in other prime markets,” said Jan Dohrwardt.
