Prime yields of large warehouses in Europe 2020, by city

In real estate, yield is a measure of rate of return and is calculated as the ratio of the annual income to the total investment cost. As a function of income and costs, many political and market factors can contribute to yield fluctuation. A general rule of thumb is that higher yields mean a riskier market.

Prime yields of warehouse space in European cities

With prime yields of 11.15 percent and relatively low rental costs, the Greek city of Athens was an attractive location for warehouse space. In general, Eastern Europe saw prime yields higher than their counterparts in the West, Bucharest (eight percent), Vilnius (7.5 percent) and Tallinn (7.5 percent) all approaching the 10 percent mark. German cities, in general, saw relatively low prime yields with Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, and Frankfurt all amounting to 3.7 percent as well as all having prime rents over 70 euros per square meter per year.

Investment in industrial and logistics real estate

With an increase in total investment, 2019 was a favorable year for the industrial and logistics real estate sector in Europe. Eight of the leading European countries saw investment growth between 2018 and 2019. Despite the United Kingdom (UK) seeing a decrease in industrial and logistic investment of over 1.5 billion euros, it still ranked as the largest target for investment compared to any country in Europe. The decrease did not affect the take-up in UK cities. Birmingham, which headed the European ranking by warehouse take-up, saw an increase in 2019.