According to analysis by Cushman & Wakefield, office space take-up in Frankfurt (covering the city of Frankfurt as well as Offenbach-Kaiserlei and Eschborn) from new lettings and owner-occupancy totalled around 67,200 m² in the first quarter of 2026. This result is significantly below the exceptionally strong figure for the same quarter last year (Q1 2025: 194,600 m²) and marks a year-on-year decline of around 65 per cent.
Few deals are shaping market activity
The current take-up fell short of the 10-year average for the first quarter (111,900 m²) by around 40 per cent and the 5-year average (113,700 m²) by 41 per cent. “Following the very dynamic year of 2025, a quieter start to 2026 was to be expected. The current lack of deal activity primarily reflects a wait-and-see attitude among many users, as well as a pipeline featuring significantly smaller space requirements,” comments Hanjo Theiss, Head of Office Agency & Office Sector Germany and Head of Office Agency Frankfurt at Cushman & Wakefield.
With a total of 86 deals, the figure has fallen below 100 deals per quarter for the first time since 2020. Take-up in the first quarter was largely driven by a few larger transactions. By far the largest deal was DZ Bank’s owner-occupier purchase at Mainzer Landstraße 50, comprising around 20,800 m² of office space. The second-largest let, brokered by Cushman & Wakefield, was in the mid-four-figure range in the Westend: these two transactions accounted for more than a third (38 per cent) of total space take-up in the first quarter and ensured that owner-occupiers and strategic relocations to existing properties in particular are shaping current market activity.
Due to the owner-occupier deal by DZ Bank in the banking district, this submarket accounts for around 33 per cent (22,500 m²) of the take-up. The Westend follows some way behind with a share of around 11 per cent (7,600 m²).
Prime rents stable, average rent declining
The sustainable prime rent remained stable at €52.00/m² in the first quarter of 2026 and, with an increase of 4.0 per cent, is slightly above the level of the same quarter last year (Q1 2025: €50.00/m²). New, high-quality space in central locations continues to command top rents.
The space-weighted average rent, however, fell to €29.60/m², placing it around 4.2 per cent below the previous year’s figure (Q1 2025: €30.90/m²).
This decline is primarily attributable to the fact that high-value large-scale deals, such as the lease signed by Commerzbank in the Central Business Tower or by ING DiBa in the Hafenpark Quartier – both from the first quarter of 2025 – have fallen out of the 12-month observation period used to calculate the average rent.
Vacancy rate stabilises at 12 per cent
Office space vacancy in Frankfurt stood at around 1.40 million m² at the end of March 2026, corresponding to a vacancy rate of 12.0 per cent. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, this represents an increase of 1.2 percentage points. Compared with Q4 2025, the vacancy rate remained stable with a change of 0.1 percentage points (Q4 2025: 11.9 per cent).
In the first quarter of 2026, a total of around 37,300 m² of office space was completed, significantly more than in the – in this respect – very weak corresponding quarter of the previous year. Among other projects, the refurbishment project “Fifty Five Westend” with around 8,800 m² of office space and the GIZ’s owner-occupied building in Eschborn with around 28,000 m² were completed. The volume of construction remains virtually stable at around 367,700 m², with around two-thirds (67 per cent) of the space currently under construction already pre-let.
Market likely to stabilise over the course of the year
“For the remainder of 2026, we expect a slight upturn in letting activity, but an overall moderate full-year result that is likely to fall short of the exceptional previous year,” concludes Hanjo Theiss.
