Office take-up falls 10% in Germany's largest cities: Colliers

Germany's six major office markets have seen a decline in take-up of around 10% so far this year, new research from agent Colliers International shows.

Less than two million m² of office space was newly leased in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, and Stuttgart in the first nine months of the year, with the third quarter reporting the strongest take-up figures to date in 2012 (712,000 m2).

'That works out to a decrease of just under 10% by comparison to the previous year,' said Andreas Trumpp, head of research at Colliers International. 'It should be noted, though, that take-up figures in 2011 were above average,' he added.

The majority of the decrease in take-up of space is due to reluctance on the part of owner-occupants.

The only market to see an increase was Berlin, the nation’s capital, where office take-up was up some 5% year-on-year at 478,300 m². The Düsseldorf office market held largely steady with a slight decline of 3% to 208,000 m2, as did the Frankfurt market, where take-up was down 4% at 331,100 m². 'The slide was steeper in the other three cities, by contrast, but that is attributable to the fact that the comparison figures for last year were above-average,' Trumpp explained.

Stuttgart saw the clearest decrease, with a 27% decline year-on-year.