Market developments – an update

Supply to the metropolitan regions is becoming more and more difficult due to increasing traffic as well as restrictions combined with ever more ambitious service promises. Logistics needs new types of building to move into cities. For this reason, our funds are also purchasing older metropolitan and inner-city buildings which can be potentially converted for new forms of logistics.

The much-discussed and now very tangible shortage of new space allocation, especially for logistics, is leading to increased use of brownfield sites, i.e. abandoned industrial areas. We have a long history in this area and have amassed valuable expertise. Use of such sites makes both ecological and economic sense and we are proud to be able to offer our customers several new developments that combine secondary use of space with a contemporary building in an attractive location.

At the same time, e-commerce is becoming one of the biggest sources of demand for space. Here we are involved with customers such as ID Logistic, Decathlon and Amazon. But: e-commerce is subject to much faster change than has been familiar from other logistics markets to date – and this is impacting on the types of building required. Here the question of subsequent rentability without follow-up investment presents a greater prognosis risk in the medium term.

Logistics services are continuing to shift towards production. As a result, the typical logistics building is starting to overlap with the typical business property category in some areas. As a specialised provider of developments and funds in precisely these market segments, we are more than happy to enter this “grey area” on behalf of our customers.