Vacancy

The third quarter IBI Activity Index reading came in at 53, with the inflection period coming from net absorption, new lease signings, and the proposal pipeline each at healthier levels in the third quarter compared to the 2024 average. And it added that the IBI reading showed a decline, as “supply chain activity peaked early in 2025 due to trade volatility,” adding that the recovery is nonlinear, paced by large and e-commerce companies pacing growth that is expected to be followed by other...

A key thesis in the report was focused on how the pairing of strong leasing and a decline in new construction held the overall quarterly vacancy rate at 6.6%, which the firm said reversed a stretch of quarterly losses that had been intact going back to the second quarter of 2022.

New Colliers report shows vacancy rising and demand stabilizing across the nation’s largest industrial markets.

The April IBI Active Index reading came in at 54.4 (a reading of 50 or higher indicates growth is occurring), following a 58.4 first quarter reading and 19 months in the high 50s and low 60s range. And the IBI Utilization rate headed up to 85.1, after a collective 84.6 reading over February and March.  

Stephanie Rodriguez, National Director of Industrial Services at Colliers, shares how she’s helping clients make smart decisions in what she calls a VUCA era—short for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

One of the report’s key takeaways related to industrial markets by inventory was that developers continue to deliver modern facilities at what the firm called a “feverish” pace. Over the past four quarters, U.S. industrial inventory grew 4.1% annually, with the 25 largest markets expanding by an average of 3% annually.

In the report, entitled “2024 North America Industrial Big-Box Review & Outlook,” CBRE said that Food & Beverage was the third most active occupier for big-box leasing activity, at 8.6%, with Automobiles, Tires & Parts, E-commerce Only, and Building Materials & Construction rounding out the top six, at 7.0%, 5.4%, and 5.3%, respectively.

Rising 0.6%, to 5.2%, the firm that the the industrial real estate vacancy rate decrease was driven by the pairing of muted demand and speculative constructions persisting at a healthy rate. What’s more, it added that this marks the first time the industrial vacancy rate has been above 5% going back to the third quarter of 2020, but it is still short of the 6.4% long-term 15-year average.

The national vacancy rate remaining low, at 4.8%, compared to a historical expansionary average of 6.1%, even as the pace of new deliveries quickened and added 70 basis point to market vacancies

In this podcast, Logistics Management and Peerless Media Supply Chain Group News Editor Jeff Berman interviews Ben Dean, Director of Logistics Strategy and Warehouse Solutions, for Seattle-based Flexe.

In its “U.S. Industrial Q3 2023” report, CBRE found that third quarter construction starts saw a 37% decline, from the second quarter to the third quarter, and a 64% annual decline, to 40 million square-feet (MSF), which CBRE said lowered the under-construction total, for the third consecutive quarter, to 479 MSF.

The most recent edition of the Industrial Business Indicator (IBI), which was issued by San Francisco-based real estate investment trust company Prologis, presented what could be viewed as a somewhat mixed outlook for the industrial real estate sector, in terms of vacancy, rents, and space utilization, among other factors.

The report—entitled “The race for industrial space: Can supply keep up?”—focuses on the challenges that industrial real estate stakeholders are up against, at a time when industrial space availability continues to trend down.

The company's Industrial Business Indicator (IBI) report stated that in the fourth quarter, United States vacancy, at 3.4%, dropped to an all-time low and is expected to remain at historic lows through 2022, with market rents pegged to increase by another 10%

The report, entitled “Industrial Occupiers Experiencing Sticker Shock at Lease Expiration,” pointed to how robust demand and new construction delays have reduced the industrial vacancy rate down to 3.6% in the third quarter, whereas annual rent growth increase a record-high 10.4%. And it also highlighted how occupiers inking five-year leases back in 2016, with an average 3% rent increase, are now seeing net increases of 25%, while making decisions on new occupancy.