MIAMI—Key market bellwethers—increased leasing velocity, the reemergence of speculative construction, and strong retail, manufacturing and transportation industry performance—signal the start of what very likely will be a positive year for industrial real estate in the United States. So says Jim Dieter, executive vice president of industrial brokerage at Cushman & Wakefield.

“The market clearly transitioned into recovery in 2011, after beginning to gain momentum during the second half of 2010,” Dieter wrote in a recent report. “Leasing activity last year exceeded 417 million square feet. As a result, vacancy rates have stabilized in almost every market across the country. The current national average of 10% reflects a decrease of 80 basis points from year-end 2010.”

According to CushWake, markets with the largest year-over-year gains included Central & Northern New Jersey (up 83.2%), Phoenix (up 76.1%), Miami (up 44.2%) and Dallas/Fort Worth (up 32.4%). Part of the reason for the rise is low construction levels.