The office letting market in Hamburg registered a take-up volume of 189,700 sq m in the first half of 2026, based on analyses by Cushman & Wakefield. This represents a decrease of approximately 11 percent compared to the same period last year. The result is also 17 percent below the five-year average of 229,600 sq m and 23 percent below the ten-year average of 244,900 sq m.
In detail, take-up in the second quarter of 2026 reached 89,300 sq m, which represents an 11 percent decline compared to the first quarter of 2026 (100,400 sq m) and a 13 percent decline compared to the second quarter of 2025 (103,100 sq m). Overall, 297 new leases and owner-occupier transactions were recorded in the first half of 2026; 157 of these transactions occurred in the second quarter. This signals a trend towards smaller lettings, although the total number of transactions increased year-on-year.
Rent development in the first half of 2026 showed a stable upward trend. The achievable prime rent reached 37.50 Euro/sq m, which corresponds to an increase of 4.2 percent compared to the previous year's figure. This marks the second-highest increase among Germany's top 5 office markets, yet still with the lowest volume. The weighted average rent recorded a slight increase of 0.5 percent to 22.10 Euro/sq m compared to the previous quarter. A representative of Cushman & Wakefield pointed out that the increase in both prime and average rents underscores the robustness of the Hamburg office market.
The city centre accounted for approximately 29 percent of the turnover volume in the second quarter. A significant transaction here was the interim lease of around 7,600 sq m of office space by Deutsche Bank in the “Emporio” property. Other important submarkets included Hafenrand with approximately 11 percent of market activity and City Süd with over 10 percent of the take-up. The largest single transaction of the first half-year was the owner-occupier transaction by MSC for its new German headquarters, comprising approximately 12,800 sq m in HafenCity.
Office vacancy in Hamburg continued to rise at the end of the first half of 2026, reaching a rate of 7.0 percent. This is 40 basis points above the previous quarter's figure and 90 basis points above the previous year's. In total, approximately 1.0 million sq m of office space was available at short notice, of which about 74,800 sq m comprised sublease offerings. The development pipeline currently includes around 427,200 sq m of office space under construction, of which approximately 224,600 sq m is still available, corresponding to a pre-letting rate of around 47 percent.
In the first half of 2026, approximately 88,200 sq m of office space was completed, with around 47,200 sq m completed in the second quarter. The availability of this space was 26 percent. Among the largest completions in the second quarter were the “Borx” project in City Süd with around 22,000 sq m, the fire brigade control centre office building with approximately 8,100 sq m, and the “Flüggerhöfe” in Hafenrand with around 5,000 sq m of office space. Further larger space requirements are expected in the second half of 2026, the completion of which remains to be seen. The Hamburg office market is expected to be characterised by selective demand and the ongoing attractiveness of high-quality space in central locations.
