Real Estate segment

Despite a slight upswing in the market during the third quarter, Hamburg’s office rental market recorded a decline in revenue as compared with the same period last year. The main reason is the prevailing uncertainty with regard to the future course of the Covid-19 crisis. According to Grossmann & Berger’s latest market report, 250,000 m² of office space was let – approximately 43 % less than the prior-year figure of 435,000 m². The market trend is expected to remain negative for the rest of the year.

Contrary to market expectations, the vacancy rate in Hamburg remained largely unchanged from the previous quarter at 3.3 %. The prior-year figure of 2.9 % was thus exceeded by 0.4 percentage points. A further increase in vacancies is anticipated in the months ahead as a result of the rising amount of space available.

By contrast, HHLA’s properties in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district and the fish market area remained largely unaffected by this negative market trend with almost full occupancy in the third quarter.

Despite the high occupancy rate, however, revenue of € 28.2 million at 30 September 2020 was significantly below the prior-year level (previous year: € 29.9 million). The decline was primarily the result of a revenue correction for expected rent losses as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic. 

While maintenance volumes remained constant, the significant year-on-year decline in the cumulative operating result (EBIT) of 17.3 % to € 10.3 million (previous year: € 12.5 million) was therefore largely due to these expected rent losses.