newsonline24

• Investment volume of €597 million (+7%)
• Retail segment replaces office segment as strongest asset class
• Return-to-office analysis highlights prospects for the office market

The Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region is an attractive business location and also a pioneer for forward-looking real estate solutions. This is reflected in the new edition of the Rhine-Neckar Real Estate Market Report, which is now available free of charge in both German and English.

Edited annually in collaboration with the Rhine-Neckar Real Estate Network, this 40-page report shows why the region remains highly attractive despite increasingly challenging economic conditions. It highlights current developments and the potential for investors, developers, and other players in the industry. For the first time, the report uses a return-to-office analysis to shed light on the outlook for the office market, which closed with high space turnover and rising prime rents.

The transaction volume in 2024 amounted to €597 million, representing an increase of 7 percent compared to the previous year (€556 million). For the first time, retail surpassed the office segment with 38.5 percent, which ranked third with 23 percent – behind the diverse “Other” category, which includes residential properties, among other things. The “warehousing and logistics” sector also suffered a massive slump, slipping from 26.8 percent in 2023 to 3.6 percent in the following year.

In 2024, the region’s office markets developed promisingly overall, with a significant increase in space turnover, up 54 percent compared to 2023. Completions and vacancies presented a mixed picture in the three regional centers. The prime rent in Mannheim remained stable for the second year in a row at €22 per square meter, while in Heidelberg (€19 per square meter) and Ludwigshafen (€16 per square meter) the prime rent rose by €1 in each case.

In the retail segment, high investment levels reflect the location’s potential, with prime rents stabilizing above the national average at €100 per square meter in Mannheim and Heidelberg. Heidelberg’s Hauptstrasse recorded a 5 percent increase in footfall, compared with a 1.5 percent increase across Germany as a whole.

Further Information:
The Rhine-Neckar Real Estate Market Report 2025 can be ordered free of charge as German printed edition at www.m-r-n.com/publikationen or accessed online as German or English edition e-paper at www.m-r-n.com/im-mobilienmarktbericht.

About the Rhine-Neckar Real Estate Network
The key players in the commercial real estate sector in the Rhine-Neckar region have been working together since 2004. In December 2012, this informal alliance was given a formal structure with the establishment of the Rhine-Neckar Real Estate Network. The Rhine-Neckar Real Estate Network was founded to create transparency, exploit synergies, and bring the Rhine-Neckar region even more into the focus of investors and companies as a real estate location. For more than 10 years, it has been a regional platform for dialogue and for joint projects and events. The alliance of over 100 regional players works together to improve the perception of the Rhine-Neckar region as a commercial real estate location both nationally and internationally. Examples of this include the Rhine-Neckar regional joint stand at Europe’s most important real estate trade fair, EXPO REAL in Munich, and participation in the German Pavilion at MIPIM in Cannes. The central publication is the annual “Rhine-Neckar Real Estate Market Report.”