Sell logistics & industrial in Stuttgart.

The Stuttgart logistics and industrial leasing market enters 2026 from the bottom of its cycle. Realogis recorded full-year 2025 take-up of just 113,700 sqm in its regional definition (BNP Paribas reports 136,000 sqm on its wider footprint), the lowest annual figure since records began in 2011 and roughly 47% below the five-year average. The decline of 9% followed steeper drops of 31% in 2023 and 42% in 2024, so the downward trend continued but decelerated markedly, and both advisors now describe the low point as passed. Prime rent held stable at EUR 8.50/sqm/month and average rent at EUR 7.00, ending the rises seen since 2020 but keeping both metrics above their five-year averages, evidence that pricing has been defended even as volumes collapsed. The defining structural feature of this market is land scarcity. Stuttgart's hilly topography, dense settlement and restrictive regional planning leave almost no developable greenfield land, so new supply depends on slow, expensive brownfield reactivation. New-build accounted for only 13% of 2025 take-up, 83% of it on brownfields, and the single largest deal, LIDL's 9,000 sqm owner-occupier expansion in Esslingen, sat on a former industrial site. Existing space therefore dominated at 87% of activity. The market has also shifted decisively toward smaller formats: units up to 5,000 sqm made up 86% of take-up, with the 1,000-3,000 sqm band the largest single category, while no unit above 10,000 sqm was let for the third time in the data series. Submarket dynamics reflected this fragmentation. Esslingen led for the first time with 44,300 sqm on the LIDL deal, Böblingen surged 3.5-fold to 23,500 sqm on the Klauss GmbH lease and Panattoni's Sindelfingen delivery, and Ludwigsburg/Kornwestheim, the traditional distribution core, halved to 20,600 sqm for want of large product. Rems-Murr collapsed 78%. By sector, manufacturing remained largest at 35%, but the standout was logistics/distribution rebounding 546% as 3PLs re-entered. The region's exposure to automotive restructuring and trade-tariff uncertainty remains the principal demand risk, yet its deep industrial expertise, supplier ecosystems around Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Bosch, and resilient innovation base provide a stabilising floor. Both Realogis and BNP expect a moderate recovery through 2026, with momentum concentrated in the small-scale segment and BNP noting that the year started dynamically on the back of a stronger final quarter of 2025. For occupiers and developers, the binding constraint is not demand but the chronic absence of modern, well-located space, which keeps vacancy structurally low and supports rents even in a thin market.

take up: 113,700 sqm (FY2025, Realogis region definition); Prime rent: 8.5 EUR/sqm/month; average rent: 7 EUR/sqm/month.