Dutch logistics sector sees record year for take up & investment in 2017

12 March 2018

According to international real estate advisor Savills, the performance of the Dutch logistics sector was unprecedented last year. Take up of logistics space was up 49% and investment volumes saw an uplift of 58% over the same period. Of particular note is the record share of cross border investment into the Netherlands logistics market in 2017.

Niek Poppelaars, ‎Associate Director, Logistics & Industrial, comments: “The global trend of internationalisation of the real estate market is increasingly being reflected in the logistics sector and cross border activity soared in 2017 with 83% of the total volume of investment into the sector being attributed to foreign capital.”

Savills has analysed the recent performance and the future potential of the Dutch logistics market through a comparison of the key fundamentals of the UK, German and French logistics market.

“When we look at the fundamentals, we can conclude that the Dutch logistics market has matured over the last years. It has become a stable sector for investors, but we expect further room for growth.” says Jordy Kleemans, head of Research & Consultancy at Savills Netherlands. “Based on the fundamentals of the other countries, the UK seems to have the most matured logistics market. The performance of Germany is currently most in line to that of the Netherlands, even though the market is approximately 11 times larger.”

Douglas van Oers, Associate Director, Logistics & Industrial, adds: “With the German and Dutch markets being interconnected and having so much in common with regards to logistics infrastructure, we foresee prime yields hardening in line with those in Germany, therefore, yes, 2018 has the potential to be another record breaking year.”

Logistics market fundamentals of 2017 internationally compared

	NL	UK	DE	FR
Take-up	2,494,444 sq m	2,297,011 sq m	5,340,000 sq m*	3,577,000 sq m
Take-up versus stock	8.2%	5.2%	1.9%	n.a.
Percentage logistics of total investment volume	7.6%	8.2%	14.8%	12%
Prime rents	€ 95	€ 185	€ 82	€ 45
Prime yields	4.85%	4.50%	4.70%**	5.00%