Combine Consulting has developed an office property atlas that ranks the top 7 office locations in Germany according to their ‘new work readiness’, i.e. their suitability for new working models and their supply of ‘future-oriented space’. Recent market studies on office presence in cities, the degree of digitalisation and the proportion of co-working spaces were among the factors taken into account.
Berlin was ranked first due to the city's economic development with many start-ups that rely on modern office concepts and flexible workplace design. Many co-living options, such as The Base or Habyt, also cater to new working trends.
Cologne follows in the ranking as one of the most important New Work cities in Germany.
The cathedral city came second place in the overall ranking thanks to a high back-to-office ratio and an excellent level of digitalisation. Cologne also has the lowest average rents of all the top 7 cities.
In third and fourth place are Munich and Hamburg, which, like Berlin, also have a strong start-up market and a dynamic economy. Added to this is the full potential of existing buildings. These offer 'a good combination of state-of-the-art space and reasonable average rents', according to the analysis by the workplace strategy consultancy.
Few office returns in Düsseldorf and Frankfurt
Stuttgart follows in fifth place with a strong economic structure, but also with a property stock and infrastructure from the 1960s and 1970s. The market is similarly characterised in the Rhine metropolis of Düsseldorf, which comes last in the overall ranking.
Frankfurt am Main is ranks penultimate. "The office market in the financial centre is predominantly dominated by corporates and, despite its proximity to major server centres, does not have a comprehensive readiness for New-Work," says the report. This is reflected in the low back-to-office ratio, where Frankfurt is at the bottom compared to other cities. For a long time, Frankfurt's banking district was considered a modern office hotspot. But those days seem to be over. Many of the large office towers still date from the 1980s and have only been adapted to modern working trends to a limited extent over time,' explains Hendrik Grempe, Managing Director of Combine Consulting, also in relation to the second-highest average rent in the ranking. Frankfurt seems to be aware of this, however, and new major projects give us hope that the asymmetry between rents and the willingness to create new jobs will diminish in the coming years."
What do employees want in New Work times?
‘When it comes to choosing a location, city centre locations with good public transport connections and local amenities are particularly favoured,’ says Hendrik Grempe. ‘This is particularly reflected in the rents in major cities such as Berlin and Munich, where vacancy rates in city centre locations are comparatively low.’ This is less true for other cities in the top 7 ranking.
Serviced apartments strengthen the opportunities for New Work, particularly in Germany's top 7 cities, by providing comfortable, furnished temporary accommodation for mobile workers, project workers and young professionals. They also offer space to work, whether in the apartment itself or in the co-working areas in the building.
At apartmentservice.de travellers and their employers have access to a large selection of serviced apartment buildings and aparthotels. The reservations team are familiar with most of the properties and can make many personal recommendations.