Office and telephone service provider ebuero has investigated the financial inefficiency of commercial vacancies in the so-called Big 7 metropolitan areas. The analysis determined the costs arising from unlet commercial spaces by calculating prime and average rents against the respective vacant areas. This study highlights the direct monetary impacts of unused real estate stock and also relates the vacancy rate to the total stock in the respective cities.
Munich, with a prime rent of 60.00 EUR per square metre and a vacant area of 1.99 million square metres, shows a cost inefficiency of 119.6 million EUR. This positions the city at the top of the ranking in terms of absolute vacancy costs. Munich is closely followed by Berlin, which records costs of 92.2 million EUR with 1.94 million square metres of vacant space and a prime rent of 47.50 EUR per square metre.
Other cities with high absolute vacancy figures include Frankfurt with 1.24 million square metres, Düsseldorf with 1.1 million square metres, and Hamburg with 1.09 million square metres. Stuttgart and Cologne are exceptions in this analysis, as they do not have millions in vacant space; their unlet areas amount to 534,700 and 408,000 square metres respectively.
Vacancy Rates and Average Rents
However, when vacancy is set in relation to the total commercial stock, a differentiated picture emerges. Düsseldorf leads this ranking with a rate of 11.6 per cent, followed by Frankfurt with 10.4 per cent. Munich and Berlin follow with 8.9 and 8.4 per cent respectively. Cologne and Stuttgart show the highest cost efficiency. Not only do they have the lowest prime and average rents in the ranking — Cologne with 19.80 EUR average and 32.50 EUR prime rent, Stuttgart with 17.90 EUR average and 37.00 EUR prime rent — but also correspondingly low vacancy rates of 5.1 per cent in Cologne and 5.7 per cent in Stuttgart.
The analysis based on average rents shows a slightly shifted order of cost inefficiency. Here, Berlin takes first place with 55.2 million EUR, followed by Munich with 52.4 million EUR. Frankfurt remains in third position with 36.1 million EUR. Hamburg and Düsseldorf swap places, with Hamburg taking the subsequent position with 24.2 million EUR and Düsseldorf with 22.8 million EUR.
Market Dynamics and Outlook
Laura Keddi, VP Marketing & Customer Success at ebuero, points out that Munich and Berlin are currently bearing the financial consequences of their high rental levels. The large volume of vacant space in these cities leads to substantial financial damage in the triple-digit millions. She emphasised that Stuttgart and Cologne demonstrate that a more moderate rental level can contribute to higher market liquidity.
The current situation in the top metropolitan areas is interpreted as a brake on efficiency for economic centres, where significant amounts of capital are tied up unproductively. This underscores the necessity for flexible space concepts instead of rigid large areas, which incur considerable monthly costs without direct added value.
