95 Types of Logistics Properties: A Valuation Framework

Last updated: April 2026

Why 95 Property Types — Not One Asset Class?

Logistics real estate is not a single asset class. It is a family of 95 distinct property types, each with different cost structures, tenant requirements, and rental economics. The industry's habit of treating all warehouses as interchangeable overlooks the operational reality that drives tenant willingness-to-pay — and, by extension, investment returns.

Logivalue's valuation framework organises these 95 types across 14 categories, ranging from ambient distribution centres to temperature-controlled pharmaceutical hubs, from high-throughput parcel sortation centres to urban micro-fulfilment facilities. Each category serves a different function within the supply chain, attracts a different tenant profile, and generates a different investor outcome.

"When we say logistics real estate isn't one asset class, we mean it literally. We've identified 95 distinct property types across 14 categories, each with different occupier economics. Understanding this granularity is how you find tenants willing to pay premium rents and sign long-term leases."

— Carl-Friedrich zu Knyphausen, Managing Director, Logivalue

This classification matters for investors because the spread between the lowest-value and highest-value use case for a single building can exceed 30%. Identifying the optimal property type — and targeting the tenant profile that matches — is the foundation of supply chain cost simulation and occupier-side valuation.

The Four Primary Categories

While all 14 categories matter, four dominate the European logistics investment landscape. Each has distinct economic drivers, typical tenants, and investor outcomes. Understanding these four categories provides the foundation for more granular analysis.

1. Cross-Dock Facilities

Cross-dock facilities prioritise throughput speed over storage. Goods arrive on one side, are sorted, and leave on the other — often within hours. These buildings are defined by their dock-door configuration (typically 1 door per 500-700 sqm), shallow depth, and high-capacity yard space for trailer staging.

The economic driver is cost minimisation. Cross-dock operators run on razor-thin margins, and their willingness-to-pay is governed by the building's ability to reduce handling costs and transit times. Typical tenants include high-frequency parcel carriers such as DPD, GLS, and Hermes, as well as third-party logistics (3PL) providers running multi-client consolidation operations.

For investors, cross-dock tenants deliver stable long-term tenancy because their operations become deeply embedded in the building's physical layout. Relocating a cross-dock operation means reconfiguring an entire regional sortation network — a cost that typically exceeds several years of rent.

2. Last-Mile Hubs

Last-mile hubs serve the final leg of delivery, positioning inventory as close to the end consumer as possible. These buildings are typically 5,000-25,000 sqm, located in or near urban areas, and optimised for high-frequency van dispatch rather than HGV throughput.

The economic driver is urban proximity and drop density. A last-mile operator's unit economics depend on the number of deliveries per route — and that depends on how close the hub is to population density. According to Savills Investment Management, last-mile facilities command a 45% rental premium over standard prime logistics assets.

Typical tenants include e-commerce fulfilment operators (Amazon, Zalando), grocery delivery services (Picnic, Gorillas successors), and quick commerce players. For investors, the proximity premium is non-negotiable for these tenants — they cannot move further from the consumer without destroying their unit economics, creating strong rent stability.

3. Cold Chain Warehouses

Cold chain warehouses maintain controlled temperature environments ranging from +2 to +8 degrees Celsius for fresh food to -25 degrees for frozen goods and -80 degrees for pharmaceutical products. These facilities require specialised insulation, refrigeration plant, backup power systems, and compliance with food safety or pharmaceutical regulations.

The economic driver is specialised infrastructure. Cold chain build costs run 2-3x higher than ambient warehouses, creating a natural barrier to new supply. Typical tenants include food retailers (Lidl, Albert Heijn), pharmaceutical distributors (McKesson, Phoenix Group), and meal-kit providers (HelloFresh).

For investors, cold chain assets deliver the longest leases in logistics — typically 10-15 years — because the tenant's fit-out investment creates prohibitive switching costs. A food retailer that has invested millions in refrigeration, racking, and regulatory compliance at a specific site has virtually no economic incentive to relocate.

4. City Delivery Centres

City delivery centres operate within dense urban environments, often in repurposed commercial or light-industrial buildings. They are typically smaller (1,000-8,000 sqm) and focus on same-day or next-day delivery to surrounding postcodes.

The economic driver is scarce urban supply. Zoning restrictions, land costs, and community opposition make new urban logistics development extremely difficult across European cities. Typical tenants include urban parcel delivery operators and micro-fulfilment providers running automated picking systems for grocery or general merchandise.

For investors, city delivery centres offer scarcity-driven premium rents and structural protection against new competing supply. The combination of high demand and constrained supply ensures low vacancy rates and strong rental growth potential.

Property Type Comparison

Last-mile rental premium: Savills Investment Management, "Thinking Outside Big Boxes". Cold chain cost multiplier: industry construction cost analysis.

The Prologis Four-Category Model

Prologis research has independently argued for richer property segmentation, defining four consumption-side categories that provide useful industry context:

• Last Touch — urban infill facilities for same-day delivery, positioned within major metropolitan areas
• City Distribution — facilities enabling 1-2 day shipping reach, typically on the urban fringe
• Multi-Market Distribution — regional hubs located at major transport nodes, serving multiple markets
• Gateway — port-adjacent facilities handling import/export flows across multiple markets

Prologis's model represents an important step beyond the traditional single-category view. However, its four categories remain broad. Within "Last Touch" alone, Logivalue's framework distinguishes between grocery micro-fulfilment, fashion e-commerce returns processing, pharmacy distribution, and several other distinct types — each with different building requirements, tenant profiles, and rental economics.

"A cross-dock facility and a last-mile hub may sit on the same street, but their rental economics are completely different. One is cost-driven, the other is proximity-driven. When you understand the occupier's use case, you can identify which tenants will pay a premium — and commit to longer leases."

— Raimund Paetzmann, Occupier-Side Strategist, Logivalue

Why Property Type Classification Drives Investment Returns

The practical consequence of property type classification is straightforward: investors who understand which type a building serves — or could serve — can identify the tenant profiles that will pay the highest rents and commit to the longest leases. This is the foundation of use case identification and building spec alignment.

Consider a 30,000 sqm building in a suburban location with good motorway access. Marketed generically, it attracts ambient distribution tenants at market rent. Analysed through the property type framework, the same building might be repositioned as a returns processing hub for a fashion e-commerce operator — a use case that commands significantly higher rent because the tenant's economics depend on speed-to-restock rather than pure storage cost.

The same logic applies across all 95 property types. Each type has a specific set of building features that the optimal tenant values most highly. By aligning the building's specifications with the requirements of the highest-value tenant type, investors can systematically achieve premium rents and reduce vacancy risk. This process is detailed further in our guides on catchment area mapping and CAPEX quantification.

From Classification to Valuation

Property type classification is the first step in Logivalue's Investment Intelligence methodology. Once the property type is identified, the analysis proceeds through supply chain cost simulation, catchment area mapping, spec alignment, and CAPEX quantification to determine which tenants will pay premium rents and commit to long-term leases.

For a comprehensive overview of how these capabilities work together, see our complete guide to logistics real estate valuation. For portfolio-level applications, see our guide to logistics real estate portfolio strategy.