Cushman & Wakefield reports stable annual results for the Hamburg office rental market: With space take-up of around 393,600 m², the 2025 year-end result was slightly below the previous year's level, down 5 per cent.
Final quarter characterised by small-scale leasing activity
In the fourth quarter of 2025, space turnover of around 85,000 m² was achieved, around 29 per cent below the previous year's figure. With a total of 100 transactions, market activity at the end of the year was characterised by small-scale lettings.
For the year as a whole, take-up consisting of new leases and owner-occupancy totalled 393,600 m², only slightly below the previous year's level (down 5 per cent). This means that space take-up for 2025 fell short of the five-year average by just under 12 per cent and the ten-year average by around 22 per cent. A total of 433 transactions were recorded, representing a decline of around 13 per cent.
‘The year 2025 shows that the Hamburg office rental market has remained stable overall despite economic uncertainties,’ emphasises Vera Passade, Head of Office Agency Hamburg at Cushman & Wakefield.
Over the course of 2025, the largest share of space take-up was accounted for by the ‘industry, transport, traffic’ sector with around 75,000 m² (19 per cent of total take-up). This was followed by ‘education, social services, administration, lobbyists’ with around 43,000 m² (11 per cent) and ‘consulting firms’ with around 40,800 m² (10 per cent). This indicates a clear change: while public and social infrastructure dominated the market in 2024, the focus in 2025 was increasingly on the industrial and transport sectors.
The highest take-up in 2025 was recorded in the city centre submarket with around 94,200 m² (24 per cent of total take-up). This was followed by Bahrenfeld with 40,700 m² (10 per cent) and HafenCity with 33,100 m² (8 per cent). This distribution underscores the strong demand for office space in central locations.
One of the most significant transactions in the fourth quarter of 2025 was the leasing of around 7,900 m² by Accenture at Alten Wall 40 in the city centre. On the owner-occupier side, HanseMerkur stands out, moving into around 6,500 m² of office space in the new Rabenstraße 3–12 in the Harvestehude/Rotherbaum submarket.
The largest transaction during the year was the new lease in Tasköprüstraße in the Bahrenfeld submarket by NXP Semiconductors, covering over 20,000 m² in the third quarter.
In total, around 352,900 m² was let during the course of 2025, 54 per cent of which was 1,000 m² or more. In addition, numerous smaller deals below this mark shaped the picture, accounting for around 36 per cent. Owner-occupier deals accounted for around 40,700 m², or 10 per cent of annual take-up. By way of comparison, owner-occupiers accounted for 15 per cent of take-up in 2024, with a volume of around 64,000 m². The fourth quarter differs significantly from the year as a whole: there were no large deals of 10,000 m² or more. Overall, large-scale leases of this size accounted for around 13 per cent of total space take-up over the course of the year.
Top and average rents continue to rise
Top rents reached £37.00/m² at the end of the year, up 5.7 per cent on the previous year. Weighted average rents also rose significantly and now stand at £22.80/m² – an increase of 7.5 per cent year-on-year.
‘High-quality space with modern amenities remains the key selection criterion for users – especially in established city centre locations, as demonstrated by the exclusive office lease in the Alter Wall 40 project. These leases reflect the significant increase in prime and average rents,’ adds Passade.
Vacancy rates stabilise – sublet space remains relevant
The vacancy rate remains at 6.4 per cent, which corresponds to an absolute volume of 920,200 m². The supply of sublet space available at short notice is 66,300 m² and remains a relevant factor on the supply side.
At the end of December 2025, around 400,000 m² was under construction, of which 170,900 m² is still available. This corresponds to a pre-letting rate of around 57 per cent.
Completions for the year as a whole total 206,000 m² – around 19 per cent of which is available. The fourth quarter stands out with around 62,000 m², marking the highest quarterly figure of the year and an increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year (Q4 2024: 57,800 m²). Among other things, the ‘New Work Campus Flow’ in the airport/Groß Borstel submarket with around 23,500 m² of office space, the ‘ottensenOPEN²’ in the Altona/Ottensen submarket with 11,700 m² and the ‘Fleetyard’ in City-Süd with 8,900 m² were completed.
‘The stable vacancy rate, combined with the high pre-letting rate of 81 per cent for completed projects, underscores the continuing high demand for modern office space,’ explains Vera Passade.
Vera Passade concludes: ‘We expect a moderate upturn in space take-up at the beginning of 2026. Although demand remains heavily dependent on the overall economic situation, there are several large-scale enquiries on the market. Against the backdrop of a below-average project pipeline, a slight market recovery is therefore likely.’
