Over the quarter, activity has been mainly driven by a few key markets, with the Netherlands the top performer (41% increase quarter-on-quarter), followed by the UK (14%), Belgium (7%) and Spain (6%). Madrid and Barcelona combined recorded over 540,000 sq m of take-up in Q1, an increase of 6% on Q4 2025, marking their highest quarterly increase.

Sam Quellyn-Roberts, Director in the EMEA industrial & logistics occupational markets team, says: “With a shortage of quality Grade A stock, resulting from the reduced speculative pipeline, this is helping support robust rental growth, especially across core markets, despite some lacklustre leasing. As a result, our Savills European Prime Rent Index has risen by 1.3% over the past three months and on an annual basis, increased by 2.7% on average across Europe.”

The European logistics investment market finished 2025 on a high with year-end figures reaching €43.3 billion, the highest level since the pandemic. Investment volumes in Q1 2026 totalled €7.5 billion, 19.2% lower than Q1 2025. Savills says that this slowdown is a reflection of investor uncertainty arising from the conflict in the Middle East and resultant interest rate pressure impacting the financing market. 

George Coleman, Director, UK & EMEA logistics, Savills, says: “Investors continue to focus on core logistics locations and assets with a robust income profile. Typically, the most active capital remains value add in nature with net lease / income funds and French SCPIs’ increasingly active. We’re also witnessing strong interest from core capital for prime stock and evidencing notable transactions across the region”.