Essen, 10.7.2019. No reason to be gloomy: despite limited availability, more than 110,000 m² of office space was leased in Essen in the 1st half of 2019. That is double the figure for the 1st half of 2018. Rents are rising and prime rents for new-build or first occupancy have reached €16. As market leader in the Ruhr region, Brockhoff OFFICE expects this trend to continue in the 2nd half of the year. “We are currently working on numerous transactions,” says Tobias Altenbeck, Head of Office Leasing.

Coworking is also in demand in Essen. In RUHR Tower, the former Rheinstahl headquarters exclusively marketed by Brockhoff OFFICE under a lead-broker agreement, coworking operator Design Offices has now leased approximately 7,000 m², in addition to Deutsche Bank, Hays, Business Metropole Ruhr and C3, and secured further options.

At the listed property at Lindenallee 29-41, coworking provider Work Inn has leased approximately 754 m² through Brockhoff OFFICE. A further approximately 2,258 m² in the building has been let to Harfid.

A listed corporation has leased approximately 5,400 m² through Brockhoff OFFICE at Kruppstraße 74. Siemens signed for approximately 12,000 m² at Kruppstr. 16.

Brockhoff OFFICE arranged an expansion of approximately 1,064 m² at Baumstraße 25 for a listed corporation that had leased approximately 3,000 m² there through the Essen brokerage the previous year.

At Huyssen Quartier, Essen’s most prestigious new-build project, Brockhoff leased approximately 4,200 m² of office space to PwC Deutschland.

The City of Essen leased approximately 2,600 m² at Frohnhauser Straße 71.

Hochtief also leased approximately 15,800 m² at Alfredstr. 236, RWE AG approximately 15,000 m² at Altenessener Straße, and Karstadt approximately 8,000 m² at Theodor-Althoff-Str. 1.

The new Allbau AG building at Holsterhauser Platz, opposite the hospital, was also successfully marketed. Brockhoff OFFICE leased approximately 2,570 m² there to AWO Essen.

Brenntag AG leased approximately 2,200 m² at Hohenzollernstr. 24-26.

Numerous other leases in the 1st half of the year contributed to total office take-up of just over 110,000 m².

High take-up and low levels of new construction have pushed the vacancy rate below 4%. This is benefiting projects such as Kontorhausviertel and Literatur Quartier, which are seeing strong demand. Prospective tenants are accepting pre-letting periods of 1 to 3 years to secure modern space. “Construction of new office space in Kontorhausviertel is not scheduled to start until next year. We are confident we will achieve a high pre-letting rate for the site before completion,” says the Essen brokerage.