The REALOGIS Group analysed the Cologne industrial and logistics real estate market for the first half of 2026. The registered take-up across all market participants amounted to 175,800 square metres. Of this, 165,800 square metres, or 94 per cent, were warehouse spaces. Office spaces accounted for 7,700 square metres (5 per cent), and mezzanine spaces for 2,300 square metres (1 per cent). Compared to the same period last year, the warehouse space taken up more than doubled, increasing by 105 per cent to 85,100 square metres. This figure exceeds the five-year average for warehouse space of 124,440 square metres by 33 per cent.
Three major deals by ID Logistics, Goodcang Logistics, and Westmax Consulting together generated 128,800 square metres, accounting for 73 per cent of the total take-up. Bülent Alemdag, Managing Director of REALOGIS Immobilien Düsseldorf GmbH, which is responsible for the Cologne region, noted that the high take-up does not indicate a broad market recovery, but is primarily the result of a few large deals in existing properties. He emphasised that the absence of new lettings on greenfield sites shows that newly built spaces available at short notice play hardly any role in the Cologne market. This leads to a challenging search for users with larger space requirements.
Rental Price Development and Space Distribution
Rental prices in the Cologne industrial and logistics real estate market saw no changes in the first half of 2026. The prime rent remained constant at EUR 8.00 per square metre and the average rent at EUR 6.85 per square metre. The rent level was thus maintained despite the altered turnover dynamics.
Lettings were almost exclusively concentrated on existing properties, which accounted for 170,600 square metres or 97 per cent of the market volume. The three major deals mentioned contributed 75 per cent to this existing space take-up. Lettings in new buildings on former brownfields followed a long way behind with 5,200 square metres (3 per cent). No new lettings were registered on greenfield sites during the reporting period. The Cologne market in the first six months of 2026 was purely a rental market, as no owner-occupier deals were recorded.
Dominant Segments and User Groups
Big-box spaces dominated the market structure by building type with 161,200 square metres or 92 per cent. Other properties, which are neither big-box spaces nor classic business parks, followed with 10,100 square metres (6 per cent). Business parks played a lesser role with 4,500 square metres (2 per cent).
The logistics and forwarding sector represented the strongest user group, with a take-up of 152,700 square metres, corresponding to a market share of 87 per cent. The three largest deals of the first half of the year fell within this sector and accounted for 84 per cent of the sector's turnover. Retail came in second with 15,500 square metres (9 per cent), with e-commerce dominating at 11,900 square metres (77 per cent of retail turnover). Traditional retail achieved 3,600 square metres (23 per cent). Other sectors accounted for 7,600 square metres (4 per cent), while no lettings by industrial and production companies were registered.
- —Large spaces of 10,001 square metres or more dominated the market with 152,700 square metres and 87 per cent of the total take-up.
- —Take-up in this category was 84 per cent generated by the top deals from ID Logistics, Goodcang Logistics, and Westmax Consulting.
- —Larger spaces between 5,001 and 10,000 square metres took second place with 14,500 square metres (8 per cent).
- —Medium-sized spaces from 3,001 to 5,000 square metres contributed 7,000 square metres (4 per cent). Smallest spaces under 1,000 square metres played no significant role with 1,600 square metres (1 per cent), and no lettings of smaller spaces between 1,001 and 3,000 square metres were observed.
