According to the research report 'Spotlight: Logistics property market - The Netherlands' published today by international real estate advisor Savills, the growth of the Dutch economy has positive effects on the logistics property market.

With the growth of the national economy, consumption rises, and with the growing market share of e-commerce, there is an increasing demand from retailers and service providers for distribution centres. This resulted in a (continuing) strong occupier demand, with a record take-up of 710,000 square meters in the first half of 2016 and a vacancy rate of less than 5%. It also resulted in a large number of new developments. Partly speculative, but mostly built-to-suit logistics centers of over 40,000 sq m, built for (online) retailers. The city of Venlo is particularly popular, as both land prices and construction costs are relatively inexpensive.

The investors' interest remains high. Savills foresees that the total investment volume in 2016 can rise to € 1.1 billion, higher than last year. International buyers will remain dominant. This group accounted for 92% of all investments in H1 2016.

Niek Poppelaars, associate director Agency - Logistics & Industrial at Savills Netherlands: "The high level of investor interest causes a persistent downward pressure on yields. Since the yields have already been decreasing over the past two years, further contraction is likely to be limited."

Douglas van Oers, associate director Agency - Logistics & Industrial at Savills Netherlands: "Remarkably, newly developed logistics centers show the same or even lower rents than existing centers. One explanation for this is that the tenant / occupier partially shares in the benefits of the sharp returns that investors in newly developed logistics centers have."

Jeroen Jansen, Head of Research Savills Netherlands: "In addition to an update of the market, this report also provides an overview of the major trends that will influence the logistics sector the coming years and may - or will - have an impact on the location, size and layout of distribution centers. "

Read the full report here.