Hamburg

What trends characterize the use of space in my industry? How much office space will I need in three years? Are there better offices in Hammerbrook than St. Georg? Are office rents higher in the center of Hamburg than in HafenCity? These are just some of the questions that concern you as a renter of office space and that we answer every day together with our customers, always with a view to the optimum office for our customers and a transparent, audit-proof decision. The size of the office space you ask about is unimportant to us because we advise startup companies and large renters alike. We know the requirements of our target groups.

Making quality transparent for our clients

All advisors are faced with the task of convincing prospective clients of the quality of the services they provide, even before mandates are awarded. This is why we make the quality of our services transparent to our clients through our teams of highly-qualified and loyal employees, our detailed preparation of information about office space in the market, and our experience of letting space of all sizes.

Buy, rent or build yourself?

When looking for new office space, we do not focus solely on the letting mandate, but also weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of an acquisition or development of your existing premises. We work with you to analyse your best options, and develop possible purchase scenarios for existing properties or projects. Working together with our real estate investment and valuation teams, you have all the knowledge and expertise of Angermann Real Estate at your disposal.

The Hamburg office market at a glance

We undertake comprehensive research of the office market in order to be able to provide you with detailed information about your dream property. Our research team records all leases concluded in the city, and regularly compiles this and other information in our office market reports.

Office take-up has remained above the ten-year average of 533,000 sqm since 2014. While an above-average volume of lettings of around 544,000 sqm was registered in 2019, the result for the first quarter of this year was 6% lower than the corresponding period last year. A precise forecast for 2020 is difficult to make because of the gap between supply and demand. Around 98,000 sqm of office space was newly let in the first quarter of 2020.

Shortage of space requires timely relocation planning

Many of today's office users attach increasing importance to the high fit-out specification of their future offices and are prepared to agree higher rents in return. The well-being of the employee in the workplace is becoming more important and increasingly large budgets are being made available for lounges, interior design, terraces, acoustic and air conditioning measures.

Nonetheless, companies looking to secure office space must anticipate a greater level of competition and it is therefore advisable to allow sufficient time and flexibility for the realisation of any relocation plans. The larger the premises required, the longer the lead-in time needs to be. For example, a period of at least 24 months is required for searches for units larger than 3,000 sqm.

Just 370,000 sqm of office space in the Hanseatic city is vacant. Based on a total office stock of around 13.8 million sqm, this corresponds to a vacancy rate of 2.7%, too little to meet current needs.

Prime and average rents rise

As forecast at the end of last year, rents rose again following their temporary standstill in the second half of 2019. For instance, the average monthly office rent increased from €17.20 to €17.90/sqm in the first quarter of 2020 and there has been a rise in the prime rent from €29.00 to €30.00/sqm.
Asking rents in the City submarket ranged from €13.00 to €35.00/sqm, in HafenCity from €19.00 to €26.00/sqm, in West of the Alster from €12.00 to €20.00/sqm and in City South from €10.00 to €17.50/sqm. An accurate overview of office rents in Hamburg can be found on our rental price map which is updated quarterly.

Real estate industry accounts for the highest volume of lettings - City leads the location rankings

With take-up of around 31,500 sqm, City retained pole position in the location ranking at the beginning of 2020. The subsequent places were assumed by HafenCity with around 17,200 sqm and City South with around 12,200 sqm. The most active sector was the real estate industry with around 18,400 sqm, followed by the service sector in second place with around 11,500 sqm. In the first quarter of this year, most leases (56) were concluded in the 250-700 sqm size category; nonetheless, at around 24,900 sqm, this category accounts for just 25% of the total take-up result. At 40% (around 38,900 sqm), the ˃1,500 sqm size category accounted for the highest proportion of take-up with 14 leases concluded. Contracts for premises larger than 10,000 sqm failed to materialise in the first quarter of 2020; this compares unfavourably with the corresponding period last year when 18 leases were concluded in the ˃1,500 sqm size category. The resulting take-up was around 84,300 sqm.