Berlin office market sales close to record

Berlin's office market has achieved one of the best results of the past decade, according to analysis by BNP Paribas Real Estate (BNPPRE).

346,000 m² of office space was sold in the first three quarters of the year, a tenth below the record set in 2011, achieving one of the best results of the past decade, according to analysis by BNP Paribas Real Estate (BNPPRE).

Only Munich (528,000 m2) and Frankfurt (387,000 m2) achieved higher sales. 'Several major contracts, including the Federal Agency for Real Estate (BImA)’s 29,000 m² for the Federal Ministry for Education and Research at the main station and three contracts totaling 55,000 m² with online mail order company Zalando contributed to this result,' said Jan Dohrwardt, Berlin branch manager of BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Thanks to healthy demand and manageable speculative construction activity, the vacancy rate has further declined, with the largest vacancies continue to be located in secondary locations.

The highest rent in the Berlin market area remained unchanged at the end of September, at EUR 22/ m² (achieved at Potsdamer / Leipziger Platz),.
'The Berlin office market is expected to continue its positive development,' said Dohrwardt. 'The strong demand has a favorable effect on the further reduction of vacancies. Whether this will give rise to increased project developers speculative construction activity remains to be seen.'