The German industrial and logistics real estate market achieved take-up of around 5.9 million square metres in 2025, which corresponds to an increase of 4 per cent compared to the previous year. The result is 18 percent below the five-year average. Owner-occupiers contributed 22 percent to take-up. Large deals of 30,000 square metres or more increased again in 2025 (37 deals vs. 31 in the previous year) and took place mainly outside the top 8 markets. Logistics service providers in particular rented this space and accounted for the largest user group, accounting for 39 percent of total take-up.
Christian Kah, Head of Industrial & Logistics Germany at Colliers in Germany: "Geopolitical tensions and, above all, the US trade tariffs on Chinese products are currently leading to a reorientation of global flows of goods. According to the current IW Cologne study, Chinese industrial goods and mechanical engineering products are increasingly reaching Europe via alternative, changed routes, which strengthens Germany's role as a target market in particular. We in the German industrial and logistics real estate market are also increasingly aware of this development – across all sectors, from logistics service providers to trading companies and production. While the share of Asian companies has averaged around 3 percent over the past five years, they generated around 10 percent of nationwide take-up in 2025. North Rhine-Westphalia in particular is benefiting from this development for historical reasons: Here, the proportion of Asian users across all industries was remarkably close to a quarter, with both large-scale central warehouses and smaller units being rented for last-mile services. We expect this trend to intensify further in 2026 and to have a significant impact on the development of demand on the German market."
Top 8 markets above previous year's level
The top 8 stores achieved take-up of 2.3 million square metres in 2025 and were responsible for 39 per cent of total take-up in Germany. Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to an increase of 7 percent. The five-year average was missed by 19 percent.
Within the top 8 regions, Frankfurt achieved the highest take-up of space at 428,100 square metres, thanks to a number of large-volume lettings by logistics service providers, ahead of Berlin, where the strongest year-on-year increase was recorded with an increase of 50 per cent. This is mainly due to some large settlements in the Berlin area by trading and production companies. The Stuttgart location, which offers hardly any expansion opportunities due to its topography, had the lowest result with a take-up of 107,800 square metres. Leipzig and Cologne, on the other hand, recorded the largest decline in take-up at 19 percent. In Cologne, this is mainly due to the strong annual result in 2024 with take-up of 277,200 square metres (+56 per cent compared to 2023). In Leipzig, on the other hand, the strong owner-occupier activity in 2024 was responsible for the large percentage decline. While take-up in the region fell by 19 per cent, letting take-up rose by 26 per cent in 2025.
The largest letting in the fourth quarter took place in the Berlin logistics region. In the city area, a German beverage wholesaler rented 26,600 square meters of logistics space in an existing building. The second largest lease took place in the Düsseldorf region, in Mönchengladbach, where GV Logistik leased 26,300 square metres in the newly built Segro Logistics Centre. The largest owner-occupier settlement took place in Kremmen in the Berlin area, where Netto began construction of a logistics facility covering around 60,000 square meters in the second quarter.
Small-scale leases dominate in the top 8 markets
Despite a number of major deals, the focus of users in 2025 was primarily on the small-scale space segment up to 3,000 square metres. Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of all deals were concluded in this area, but were responsible for only 20 per cent of take-up in the top 8 regions and remained stable compared to the previous year.
Due to the large-scale deals, the strongest user group within the top 8 markets was logistics service providers with a share of 33 percent of take-up, followed by retail companies with a share of 30 percent and the manufacturing industry with 22 percent.
"Although logistics service providers were able to maintain their position as the frontrunner in the top 8 markets due to a number of major deals in the first half of the year, companies from the manufacturing sector were responsible for most of the deals. Users from the trades/construction and mechanical engineering sectors in particular have rented. Overall, the economic uncertainties have led to poorer planning for many industrial and manufacturing companies, so that they are increasingly investing in small-scale areas instead of making major investments as in the past. On average, they rented 3,400 square meters, while logistics service providers rented an average of 7,600 square meters per deal. In general, we see that the most constant demand is currently coming primarily from the business park segment, where users from the leisure and event sector in particular have excelled in 2025," adds Kah.
Average rent grows faster than prime rent
The top 8 logistics regions recorded an average growth of 4 percent in prime rents compared to the previous year. The average rent has risen slightly more sharply at 5 percent. Munich has the highest prime rent at 10.30 euros/square metre. Düsseldorf recorded the highest year-on-year rent growth with an increase of 10 percent and is now the second most expensive location with a prime rent of 8.80 euros/square meter. The lowest rent growth was recorded in Hamburg and made a sideways movement in rents.
"The German market for industrial and logistics real estate will be characterised by far-reaching structural changes in 2026. After a period of consolidation, we expect e-commerce activity to pick up again, driven by Asian online companies, but also Amazon's increased activity in the market. The automotive industry, on the other hand, remains subdued. The shift to electric mobility, digital production processes and geopolitical uncertainties are slowing down demand. Only the weakening of the phase-out of internal combustion engines decided by the EU could lead to slight positive impulses. The delay will give automotive companies some time to react better to the structural change and the final phase-out of internal combustion engines, to convert their production accordingly and to plan investments better. At the same time, the arms industry is gaining in importance. Rising defence spending and security policy requirements will lead to increasing demand from 2026 onwards. We have already seen the first leases and expansion plans in northern and southern Germany in 2025. Overall, we expect more movement in the market in 2026 and a result that is slightly above the level of 2025," Kah concludes.
