Office space development
The appearance of no other major German city is so clearly shaped by its office high-rises as is Frankfurt/Main. Alongside the central business district, less central locations also offer an immense range of office space. The service sector contributes over 90 percent of jobs. In 2019, around 369,000 office jobs were registered. On average, the number of office jobs has risen by 1.3 percent annually since the year 2000. The financial sector – and increasingly other service sectors, too – play a substantial role in the Frankfurt labor market.
The office market within the Frankfurt city limits has around 12.5 million square meters of usable space available. Trends for office space are primarily driven by supply and demand. On average, some 400,000 – 500,000 square meters of office space are under construction at any one time. The level of vacancies ran at 6.5 percent at the end of 2019. The city has seen total vacant office spaces fall to some 0.8 million square meters of usable office space.
The volume of existing office spaces was determined in a study commissioned by the City Planning Dept. and duly examined and analyzed. The findings of the 2019 office space study come to bear in different strategic urban development measures relating to future office space trends; for example, they play a part in the new High-Rise Development Plan, which is being updated in 2021 and as the masterplan for high-rises defines possible sites for buildings that are taller than 60 meters.