Warehouse Rental Costs in Europe: How Much Should You Pay?

This article zooms into the cost side of the Warehouse Industrial for Rent: Complete European Guide.

Why Headline Rent Is Only Half the Story

When you type “warehouse industrial for rent” into search engines, almost every listing highlights base rent. But rent alone rarely tells you whether a facility is genuinely cheap or expensive in operational terms.

This guide shows you how to:

• Understand typical rent ranges by European market.
• Build a total occupancy cost model.
• Compare buildings and countries on a like‑for‑like basis.

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Typical Rent Ranges by Market Type

The numbers below are indicative and change over time, but the relative pattern is consistent.

Core Gateway Hubs

Examples: London, Paris, Rotterdam, Frankfurt, Benelux logistics clusters.

• Prime modern logistics: roughly €80–120/m²/year.
• Secondary stock: lower nominal rents but often less efficient buildings and higher energy spend.

Strong Secondary and Emerging Hubs

Examples: Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, secondary Spanish and Italian markets.

• Prime modern logistics: roughly €40–70/m²/year.
• Older stock can be cheaper but may require significant capex upgrades.

Peripheral or Niche Markets

• Wider and more volatile ranges.
• Specific landlord negotiations and supply constraints matter more than benchmarks.

Use broker market reports for current point-in-time data, but always normalise for specification differences.

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Building a Total Occupancy Cost Model

To see true cost, combine:

1. Base Rent: €/m²/year × GLA.
2. Service Charges and Common Area Costs: Estate road maintenance, landscaping, security and shared utilities.
3. Local Taxes / Business Rates: Municipal or national taxes on commercial property.
4. Insurance: Building insurance (often recharged) plus contents and business interruption.
5. Utilities and Operational Energy: Electricity, gas, water and waste management.
6. Maintenance and Lifecycle Capex: Roof, yard, dock equipment, racking and automation upgrades.

Calculate:

• Total Annual Cost (€) = sum of all components.
• Cost per m²/year (€/m²) = total cost ÷ GLA.
• Cost per pallet position or per order = total cost ÷ throughput metric.

This makes it possible to compare a high‑rent, high‑efficiency building in a core hub with a low‑rent, low‑efficiency building in a peripheral location.

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Example Comparison: Core vs Cost-Efficient Market

Imagine two options for a 10,000m² facility.

Option A: Core Hub

• Rent: €100/m²/year → €1,000,000.
• Other costs: €50/m²/year → €500,000.
• Total property cost: €150/m²/year → €1,500,000.

Option B: Cost-Efficient Market

• Rent: €60/m²/year → €600,000.
• Other costs: €45/m²/year → €450,000.
• Total property cost: €105/m²/year → €1,050,000.

On property costs alone, Option B looks cheaper by €450,000 per year. But if:

• Transport cost per order is €0.40 higher in Option B.
• You ship 1.5 million orders per year.

Then extra transport costs of €600,000 will more than wipe out the apparent property saving. Only a combined property + logistics model reveals the truth.

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How IndiFind Helps You Compare Rental Costs

IndiFind supports:

• Cross‑market search for “warehouse industrial for rent” across multiple European countries.
• Filters for specification so you compare like‑for‑like buildings.
• Integration with route planning so you can estimate the transport cost side of the equation.
• Shortlisting and notes so you can attach internal cost models to each candidate property.

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Read Next

For a complete decision framework:

• Pillar: Warehouse Industrial for Rent: Complete European Guide
• Clusters:
  • Warehouse Location Selection Strategy for Europe
  • Warehouse Rental vs Purchase: Strategic Decision Framework