The Netherlands has added considerably more logistics real estate since the turn of the century. In 2000, there were still 1,030 distribution centres and warehouses, with a total floor area of 16 million square metres. At the beginning of 2017, there were 1,760 distribution centres with a floor area of 28 million square metres.
This is according to the report Logistic property in figures 2017, by NVM Business. The province of Limburg has proportionally benefited the most from this exponential growth. Nevertheless, Tilburg is still the city with the most square metres of logistics real estate, followed by Rotterdam and Venlo.
Renting more often than buying
The publication reveals that users are more likely to rent than buy. Currently, 64 per cent of logistics spaces are rented. Furthermore, there has been an increase in scale. The number of distribution centres with a minimum area of 30,000 square metres now amounts to 32 per cent of the total stock.
Last year was a record year, according to NVM. Demand reached 2.4 million square metres in 2017. Never before had so much logistics property been taken up, with more than 1.5 million square metres of the demand relating to new construction. Logistics service providers were the main buyers of distribution centres and warehousing space in 2017.
Decrease vacancy rate
The readily available supply of distribution centres and warehouses still to be let went down further last year. Around 2.47 million square metres were available for rent or sale in the Netherlands at the end of 2017, down from 2.58 million square metres a year earlier. Related to the total stock, vacancy rates were also down, from 9.1 per cent to 8.1 per cent.
Incidentally, it was notable that the available supply of new construction continued to increase in 2017. This was because investors and developers started building distribution centres at their own risk and expense at various locations without the security of pre-letting.
