BNP Paribas Real Estate publishes market figures for Q3 2026
The Düsseldorf office market has recorded a take-up of around 200,000 m², achieving a good result despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainties and a continuing challenging economic environment. This is according to an analysis by BNP Paribas Real Estate.
“Over the five-year period, turnover is 8 per cent above the average. It even exceeded the modest figure from the previous year by just under 28 per cent. Following a solid first half of the year, market momentum gained significant momentum once again in the third quarter. Around half of the total space take-up was recorded in this period alone,” said Philip Bellenbaum, Head of the Düsseldorf branch of BNP Paribas Real Estate GmbH.
A major contribution to this was made by the lease signed with the European energy group Uniper for around 37,000 m². Even when viewed over the long term, this ranks among the largest office lettings on the Düsseldorf market. The segment of large-scale deals exceeding 10,000 m² performed correspondingly strongly, accounting for well over a quarter of total turnover. At the same time, however, there was also a high level of market activity in the smaller office space segment: around 41 per cent of turnover was generated by spaces of up to 1,000 m².
The prime rent in the Düsseldorf market area has remained unchanged at €46 per square metre since Q3 2025. The average rent, on the other hand, continues its upward trend and has reached a new record high of €24 per square metre. Compared with the previous quarter, this represents an increase of just over 4 per cent.
Other service providers lead the way thanks to a major deal with Uniper; vacancy levels remain stable compared with the previous quarter
Boosted by Uniper’s lease, the ‘other services’ category takes first place in the sector breakdown with an above-average 32 per cent, or around 63,000 m². In Düsseldorf, this sector is primarily made up of energy service providers, private educational institutions and property service providers. The traditionally strong consultancy firms occupy second place in the sector ranking with around 27 per cent. A key factor here, alongside a large number of medium-sized leases, is the second-largest let of the year to date: KPMG is leasing around 17,000 m² of office space on Kennedydamm. Furthermore, retail companies, accounting for just over 16 per cent, are also making a double-digit contribution to take-up. They are benefiting in particular from numerous smaller lease agreements.
Other service providers lead the way thanks to a major deal with Uniper; vacancy levels remain stable compared with the previous quarter
The volume of vacant space has remained largely stable for several quarters now, fluctuating only within a relatively narrow range. Vacant space currently stands at around 1.25 million m². Whilst this represents a 7 per cent increase on the previous year, it is virtually unchanged (-0.2 per cent) compared with the previous quarter. Only around 45 per cent of vacant space features modern fittings and finishes. New-build space available for first-time occupancy also remains in short supply, totalling just 7,000 m² of available space in the most sought-after city centre locations. The vacancy rate currently stands at 12.4 per cent across the market and 9.4 per cent within the city limits.
Outlook
Despite the challenging economic environment and ongoing geopolitical unrest, the Düsseldorf office market achieved solid results in the first three quarters of 2026. The strong third quarter, in particular, made a significant contribution to this.
The outlook for the final quarter also appears to be improving. Leading German economic institutes have recently almost doubled their GDP growth forecasts. Furthermore, leading indicators such as the ifo Business Climate Index are once again showing a more positive trend. Taken together, this is likely to provide fresh impetus to demand for office space. The large-scale lettings currently in the pipeline also point to a positive trend in the coming months. Against this backdrop, a year-end figure of between 250,000 and
300,000 m² appears entirely realistic.
“On the supply side, the vacancy rate appears set to remain stable or, at most, rise slightly. At the same time, there continues to be high demand for modern new-build space, particularly in central and attractive locations. However, supply in these areas is very limited. Early lettings of prime space – such as Taylor Wessing’s decision to move into the Benrather Karree by the end of 2028 – are already reducing supply at an early stage. This underlines the fact that high-quality office space in good city-centre locations continues to be snapped up quickly,” explains Philip Bellenbaum.
Link to the market report: https://www.realestate.bnpparibas.de/marktberichte/bueromarkt/duesseldorf-report
