• The City accounts for almost half of take-up in Dortmund
• Only a few major corporate lettings in either city
  

(Essen, 21.01.2026). At first glance, office market trends in Dortmund and Essen appear contradictory: Dortmund’s office take-up has risen steadily in recent years, reaching a new record of nearly 150,000 m² in 2025. Essen, by contrast, has recorded declining take-up for several years and ended 2025 at just over 70,000 m².

A closer look at leasing activity over the past five years reveals clear parallels between the two cities. In 2025, Dortmund’s municipal administration accounted for almost half of total office take-up. The City of Essen has also been securing modern office space for its administrative departments for several years. Both cities face a similar starting point: outdated existing buildings are prompting municipal administrations to relocate.

Major corporate lettings were almost entirely absent in both Dortmund and Essen in 2025. One exception was Thalia: the bookseller leased around 11,000 m² in the former Bundesbank branch in Dortmund and will move its headquarters from Hagen to Dortmund. In Essen, only two lettings above the 5,000 m² threshold were recorded in 2025: the City of Essen’s 5,586 m² lease in Kontorhausviertel, brokered by Brockhoff, and a letting to ETL Freund & Partner.

In both cities, established companies have built new, modern headquarters in recent years. This is a positive signal for the locations, but it has also released large office spaces previously occupied by those companies. They are currently absent from the market as large-scale sources of demand. This process began earlier in Essen than in Dortmund. The City of Essen also started securing modern space for its administrative functions several years ago.

Despite moderate vacancy rates—around 4% in Dortmund and about 7.5% in Essen—very little modern space is available for immediate occupation in either city. This shortage is driving prime rents higher in both markets.

Companies, especially in Essen, currently have an opportunity to optimise their space strategically with some lead time. Owners are willing to adapt existing buildings to modern working environments, making it possible to provide larger, contiguous spaces of several thousand square metres.

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About Brockhoff

Brockhoff GmbH is one of Germany’s leading commercial real estate agencies and the market leader in the Ruhr region. The owner-managed company, headquartered in Essen, was founded by Eckhard Brockhoff in 1987. With 37 years of industry experience, it has extensive expertise in marketing properties across OFFICE, INVEST, RETAIL and LOGISTICS. Its portfolio includes the sale of office and investment properties nationwide, office leasing focused on the Ruhr region, retail properties in prime 1A locations in German cities of all sizes, and the leasing and sale of logistics properties. In 2021, ADOMO Beteiligungs GmbH acquired a 41% stake in the company. The remaining 59% is still held by founder and Managing Director Eckhard Brockhoff.