Press release NAI apollo: Frankfurt office lettings market maintains high level of activity in the third quarter

Frankfurt am Main, 10th October 2025 – The Frankfurt office market, including Eschborn and Offenbach-Kaiserlei, ended the third quarter of 2025 with take-up by tenants and owner-occupiers of 111,400 sqm. According to an analysis by NAI apollo, a member of NAI Partners Germany, while the figure for the past three months is below the results for the first half of 2025, it still represents a positive performance compared to 2023 and 2024, when lettings remained below 100,000 sqm in every quarter.

For the first nine months of the year, take-up amounted to 455,600 sqm, which surpassed the previous year’s figure by 73 % (Q1-Q3 2024: 264,000 sqm) and also significantly exceeded the five-year and ten-year averages by 76 % and 44 % respectively. “The turnaround in the Frankfurt office market that began at the start of the year has stabilised further over the summer months. We do not expect this trend to change in the remaining months of the year. In particular, there are a number of medium-size space requests on the market that are due to be finalised in the fourth quarter and should keep market activity high,” said Michael Preuße, Head of Office and Retail Letting at NAI apollo.

With regard to the general economic development, the latest joint diagnosis by leading economic research institutes predicts a slow recovery in the second half of 2025 following stagnation in the first half of the year, with stronger economic growth expected for the next two years. “The Frankfurt office market in particular should also benefit from the predicted growth in the service sector, even though there are still some risks that could derail a sustained momentum,” added Dr Konrad Kanzler, Head of Research at NAI apollo.

Large lease contracts account for more than half of take-up  

“The positive market performance to date has been driven primarily by the large-scale segment, and this also proved to be the case in the third quarter. Transactions above 5,000 sqm account for almost 60 % of total take-up so far this year, at 263,800 sqm. This represents more than a fourfold increase compared to the previous year. In the segment above 10,000 sqm, space takeup has even increased almost sixfold to 209,000 sqm,” said Martin Angersbach, Director of Business Development Office Germany at NAI apollo. By far the largest lettings took place in project developments in the first quarter of the year, including the entire Central Business Towers with 73,000 sqm by Commerzbank and 32,000 sqm in the HPQ Offices in the Hafenpark Quartier by ING Germany. “But we also recorded two deals exceeding 10,000 sqm in the third quarter. The largest here involved the lease by Allianz Global Investors of around 17,400 sqm in the ‘Fürstenhof’ office building on Gallusanlage, which is currently undergoing extensive renovation,” said Preuße.

Banks, financial service and insurance companies form the most active user group

’Banks, financial service and insurance companies’ topped the industry ranking by some distance, accounting for a total of 163,600 sqm and a market share of 35.9 %. The major deals that were concluded during the year made a significant contribution to this. “Next are companies from the ‘management consulting, marketing and market research’ sector with 51,200 sqm. Third place goes to the ‘industrial production and manufacturing’ sector with 41,800 sqm, overtaking the ’public sector’, which was still in third place in the summer. This was in large part owing to the lease of 15,000 sqm by pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi in the Höchst Industrial Park,” said Kanzler.

In terms of geographic locations, the banking district emerged as the strongest sub-market in terms of take-up with 114,200 sqm. Westend came next with 59,700 sqm, followed by Ostend-East with 56,000 sqm, Stadtmitte (city centre) with 34,800 sqm and Finanzviertel West with 25,000 sqm.

Further increase in prime and average rents

Demand for office space in central locations, especially for modern, high-quality space, remains high despite the higher rents. The proportion of leases in projects, new buildings and refurbishments has continued to increase and currently stands at around 60 % in the segment above 1,000 sqm (Q1-Q3 2024: 52 %). As a result, rental levels rose again. “The prime rent at the end of the third quarter stood at €52.70/sqm, which is €0.20/sqm more than in the previous quarter and €4.70/sqm more than in the previous year. Owing to large-scale new lettings in central locations, the area-weighted average rent rose by €0.30 or €6.90/sqm and now stands at €31.50/sqm,” said Kanzler.

Vacancies remain stable

Market-active vacancies remained broadly unchanged over the course of 2025. At the end of September, a total of around 1.22 million sqm was available for short-term lettings, equating to a vacancy rate of 10.7 %. “This is in line with the level seen in the first quarter of 2025 and represents a reduction of 0.1 percentage points compared to the middle of the year. Following the rapid increase in vacancies in previous years, the current prolonged stabilisation is a positive development. However, longer-term comparisons provide a more sobering view. At the end of September 2023, the market vacancy rate was still 9.0 %, or 1.7 percentage points below the current figure,” said Angersbach.

Owing to a small volume of space removals and completions of space in the past three months, office stock stagnated at around 11.46 million sqm at the end of the quarter. “However, momentum will pick up here by the end of the year. Completions of project developments and refurbishments with over 90,000 sqm of office space are expected in the final quarter of the year. As a result, a total of over 116,000 sqm of office space will have come onto the market in 2025. Based on the latest information, completions in 2026 will fall to around 65,000 sqm due to project postponements. Of this, around 43 % is currently still available for leasing,” said Preuße.

Strong market activity also expected in the coming months

The signs are good for a continued recovery of the Frankfurt office market in the coming months. “Traditionally, the final quarter of the year sees the highest takeup, and this year in particular a number of medium-size leases are expected to be signed. There are also requests for large spaces on the market, but these are unlikely to be included in the statistics for this year. Consequently, we expect to see a continuation of market activity from the third quarter, resulting in a year-end figure that is well above 550,000 sqm,” said Angersbach. Vacancies could rise slightly at the end of the year in view of the upcoming increase in completions with space still available, but should then fall again next year as demand for space continues to rise. “Demand is still focused on modern, ESG-compliant and centrally located new space. This means there is further potential for growth, especially in terms of prime rents”, said Preuße.