Rents for industrial real estate, which is mainly warehouses, are rising at double-digit rates in more than a dozen U.S. markets due to the growth of ecommerce, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
“Demand for industrial in the U.S. is off the charts,” said Revathi Greenwood, head of US research at Cushman & Wakefield. “That market is completely on steroids.”
Even as other parts of the property industry are softening, vacancies for warehouses are at historic lows, and new investors are thronging into the sector.
Investment manager TH Real Estate has estimated that total returns for warehouses will be double those of other U.S. property sectors this year, while the Pension Real Estate Association predicts they will outpace other property categories for at three more years.
Demand is so great that in some markets developers are tearing down office properties to convert them to warehouses, which was unheard of in years past.
The warehouse boom comes as the retail property market is being hit by bankruptcies and store closures as more and more shoppers move online.
Ecommerce is rapidly changing how retail and logistics work, with companies now looking for large amounts of warehouse space close to their customers to manage an ever-growing volume of “last mile” deliveries that need to be made on ever-tighter deadlines.
For example, a retailer that used to ship goods to a store once a week now makes deliveries on a daily basis in an effort to keep pace with Amazon, the leading online retailer.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.