Real Estate segment

According to Grossmann & Berger’s latest market report, Hamburg’s office rental market continued to face a difficult economic environment in the fourth quarter of 2024. The area of office space let was around 425,000 m² and thus 6.6 % below the prior-year figure of approximately 455,000 m². At 5.2 %, the vacancy rate was 0.6 percentage points above the prior-year figure.

Despite this weak market environment, however, HHLA’s properties in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district and the fish market area maintained their stable trend with almost full occupancy in the 2024 financial year.

Revenue fell slightly by 0.8 % to € 46.1 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 46.5 million). Declining income in the fish market area following the demolition of cold-storage and warehouse facilities in preparation for a project could not be fully offset by revenue growth in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district.

The cumulative operating result (EBIT) for the reporting period was virtually unchanged from the previous year at € 16.1 million (previous year: € 16.1 million). Expenses resulting from the successful reletting of space in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district and preparation costs for a major project in the fish market area had a negative impact on earnings. However, this was largely offset by lower maintenance costs as well as lower depreciation and amortisation.