Logistics real estate in the Netherlands has seen an increasing development in recent years. Demand for logistics facilities grew to over 2.3 million square meters in 2017, with 73 percent of all investments in logistics property in the country coming from foreign investors. The increased demand can be seen in changes in the stock of distribution centers (DCs): property agent Savills estimates the stock increased by 25 percent between 2010 and 2018. The NVM, a Dutch branch organization of real estate agents and appraisers who cover 75 percent of the total market, mention a total stock of logistics property of 28.5 million square meters in 2016 with new constructions peaking at just over 1.3 million square meters in the same year.
There are two reasons for this growing real estate market. First, the expanding e-commerce sector in the Netherlands led to more demand of logistics space. E-commerce expenses nearly doubled between 2014 and 2017, reaching 22.5 billion euros in 2017. In the second quarter of 2018, roughly 54 million online purchases were made within the Netherlands (excluding purchases from foreign retailers such as Amazon or AliExpress). Second, the Netherlands is considered an important hub in the logistics chain behind retailers and e-commerce companies for the whole of Europe due to its geographical location. The number of processed containers in the Port of Rotterdam, for example, has seen an increase. About 65 percent of the logistics market was taken up by third-party logistics providers like Kuehne + Nagel, with another 27 percent taken up by retailers for their own logistics services, such as Inditex (Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterqüe) with a DC in Lelystad.
Logistics hotspots in the Netherlands are, unlike the UK or Germany, not located in or close to major cities. Due to the small size of the country and the high connectivity to the big cities, there is less of a need for urban DCs like in London or Berlin. In 2018, the highest take-up numbers were not reached in the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam or even Schiphol International Airport, but in the south of the country. Venlo, which supplies European fashion brands Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Under Armour via Trade Port Venlo Noord, reached a take-up of 404,500 square meters, followed by Eindhoven (314,500 square meters) and Tilburg (222,500). The southern provinces of the Netherlands are popular hotspots for logistics property because rent prices are lower outside of the cities and commercial real estate construction outside of the provinces of Zuid-Holland (Rotterdam, The Hague) and Noord-Holland (Amsterdam) has increased.
There are two reasons for this growing real estate market. First, the expanding e-commerce sector in the Netherlands led to more demand of logistics space. E-commerce expenses nearly doubled between 2014 and 2017, reaching 22.5 billion euros in 2017. In the second quarter of 2018, roughly 54 million online purchases were made within the Netherlands (excluding purchases from foreign retailers such as Amazon or AliExpress). Second, the Netherlands is considered an important hub in the logistics chain behind retailers and e-commerce companies for the whole of Europe due to its geographical location. The number of processed containers in the Port of Rotterdam, for example, has seen an increase. About 65 percent of the logistics market was taken up by third-party logistics providers like Kuehne + Nagel, with another 27 percent taken up by retailers for their own logistics services, such as Inditex (Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterqüe) with a DC in Lelystad.
Logistics hotspots in the Netherlands are, unlike the UK or Germany, not located in or close to major cities. Due to the small size of the country and the high connectivity to the big cities, there is less of a need for urban DCs like in London or Berlin. In 2018, the highest take-up numbers were not reached in the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam or even Schiphol International Airport, but in the south of the country. Venlo, which supplies European fashion brands Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Under Armour via Trade Port Venlo Noord, reached a take-up of 404,500 square meters, followed by Eindhoven (314,500 square meters) and Tilburg (222,500). The southern provinces of the Netherlands are popular hotspots for logistics property because rent prices are lower outside of the cities and commercial real estate construction outside of the provinces of Zuid-Holland (Rotterdam, The Hague) and Noord-Holland (Amsterdam) has increased.
