Hanover's office letting market displayed positive development in the first half of the year. Take-up reached 72,200 m², representing an increase of 56 per cent compared to the same period last year and 24 per cent compared to the five-year average. This figure already exceeds half of the projected take-up for the entire year, which is up to 125,000 m².
A crucial factor for this growth was larger transactions. While the volume of take-up increased significantly, the number of lettings decreased from 94 to 86. The average deal size rose by 70 per cent from 493 m² to 838 m². Alexander von Bülow, Branch Manager of JLL Hamburg, noted that Hanover experienced its strongest first half-year since 2022, registering two deals over 10,000 m², a feat only achieved once in each of the two preceding full years.
One of the largest lettings was by NBank – Investitions- und Förderbank Niedersachsen, which secured 13,500 m² in the Riethorst Ensemble within the List-Podbielskistraße submarket. This submarket thus took the lead in the first half-year with a total of 17,500 m². Despite this positive development, von Bülow expressed concerns about an imbalance in size categories. The larger segments continue to show weaknesses.
Only one transaction was recorded in the 2,500 m² to 5,000 m² range, while, similar to the previous year, no deals occurred in the 5,000 m² to 10,000 m² segment. Von Bülow attributed this to a discrepancy between supply and demand, where expectations and property quality rarely align.
The vacancy rate rose year-on-year from 5.8 per cent to 6.6 per cent. Unlike the previous year, this increase is not due to numerous completions; only 600 m² were completed in the first six months. However, an additional 33,700 m² are expected to be completed by the end of the year. This would represent a total completion 51 per cent below last year's figure and 38 per cent below the five-year average.
Hanover's prime rent remained stable at EUR 24.50 since the beginning of the year. Following a significant increase from EUR 21.50 to EUR 24.50 in the previous year, this figure has now stabilised and seen no further rise.
