International real estate advisors Savills latest German office market report finds that take up in Q1 2015 reached similar levels to 2014 at 680,000 sq m and predicts it should remain strong throughout the year and could surpass 2.7 million sq m.

Marcus Mornhart, head of office agency at Savills Germany, comments: “Due to the solid first quarter and a number of large scale searches currently in the markets we expect take up to be positive throughout the year, exceeding last years figures. Whilst there is strong demand in all markets, this had not yet resulted in high take-up in all locations, with Munich and Hamburg performing best with a 20% and 16% increase.”

Savills reports that Munich and Hamburg not only recorded an increase in take-up but also the prime and average rents rose significantly to €34.50 and €15.85 per sq m and €24.50 and €14.50 per sq m respectively. Average prime rents across the six markets surveyed rose slightly as well by 1.0% year-on-year to €27.63 per sq m and average rents increased by 5.4% to €14.73 per sq m.

Matthias Pink, head of research at Savills Germany, comments: “Due in part to the large number of pre-let space the vacancy rate dropped in Q1 2015 on average across the six markets by 30 basis points to 7.7% from 8.0%. With the dropping vacancy rate and the continuously low development activity we expect rents to continue to increase in city centre and fringe locations.”